Six people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting and knife attack on the Israeli seaside city of Jaffa that occurred minutes before Iran launched a huge missile attack on Israel. Five of the wounded were described as being in a serious condition.
CCTV footage showed two men, reportedly armed with an assault rifle and a knife, dressed in black emerging from a train near the light-rail stop along Jerusalem Boulevard where they opened fire on passersby as well as on a second nearby street.
Video in the aftermath of the attack showed a number of bodies slumped under the awning of the station, while one image shared on social media purported to show the men executing one of wounded as they lay on the ground.
According to one report, the attackers shot and stabbed passengers on the Tel Aviv light rail before continuing on foot and attacking people on Jerusalem Boulevard.
Two gunmen involved in the attack were killed by security forces while police hunted for a suspected third shooter, with nearby buildings going into lockdown. Reports suggested the two dead attackers were from Jaffa and the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Israel’s ambulance service said it received a report at 7.01pm of people injured by gunfire. Medics and paramedics provided onsite medical treatment to a number of wounded people with varying degrees of injuries, including some who were unconscious, the paramedics said.
Earlier reports had suggested eight people had been killed but that was later revised to six by police.
Witnesses described the shooting to the Israeli media. “We were on the light-rail when we suddenly heard gunfire from outside,” one witness told the Jerusalem Post.
“At first, we thought it was fireworks, but then we realised it was something much worse. There were many gunshots. We dropped to the floor, and people were crying. I saw someone bleeding on the ground.”
“I saw crowds of people running and shouting ‘terror attack’,” added a nearby shop owner. “I quickly closed my shutters and locked up.”
Haaretz quoted several other witnesses. “I saw a terrorist shoot a girl who was on the floor and another girl, then I saw the terrorist shoot a man on a bicycle who fell to the floor, but I don’t think he wasn’t hurt. At that moment a civilian arrived with a gun and shot the terrorist.”
Another witness who was attending synagogue said that he heard shots from an automatic weapon. “Among the worshippers were medics who volunteer at the MDA [emergency response services]. We treated a man who was wounded in the synagogue and then ran to the street to help others who were wounded,” he said.
The Jewish high holidays begin on Wednesday with Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish new year – and end on 11 October, Yom Kippur. Israel had already been on high alert amid the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and rapidly growing tension with Iran, which has brought the countries to the very edge of full-scale war.
Video footage in the aftermath of the attack showed one of the two gunmen lying dead in the street surrounded by security forces amid questions over whether the shooting had been coordinated in any way to coincide with the Iranian missile strikes.
The shooting is the latest of a string of attacks that have occurred in Israel since October, both in the heavily populated central region and in more sparsely populated areas.
