Two individuals were killed in a stabbing incident on Sunday and two others were injured near Tel Aviv, according to Israeli medical personnel. Police reported that a Palestinian suspect was shot and later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
The emergency service Magen David Adom reported that the attack, labelled as terrorism, occurred across multiple locations in Holon, a suburb south of Tel Aviv, Israel’s economic centre.
The incident coincides with escalating tensions in Israel and the broader Middle East, amidst an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, now in its tenth month.
Authorities stated that the suspect, originating from the West Bank under Israeli control, was killed by a responding police officer, though details were not provided. The attacker was declared dead shortly after his arrival at the hospital in Holon, where he was reached in critical condition.
A woman (66) and a man, approximately 80, sustained severe injuries and died soon after the assault. Another individual (68) is in serious condition and a 26-year-old sustained moderate injuries.
The region’s tensions have intensified following threats of retaliation from Iran and its allied Middle Eastern armed groups for the assassination of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, which they attribute to Israel, and an Israeli airstrike in Beirut that killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr hours earlier.
During his visit to the site of Sunday’s stabbing, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told reporters, “Our war is not only against Iran but also here in the streets.”
He further stated, “This is why we have provided over 150,000 gun permits to the Israeli populace,” referencing the increased issuance of gun licenses under his tenure and his advocacy for arming ordinary Israeli citizens.
