A knife-wielding assailant injured a man Saturday afternoon in central Tel Aviv before being “neutralized” by the shooting of an armed civilian, according to a press release from the Israeli police. The attacker is a “terrorist”writes the police, suggesting that it is a Palestinian.
The attack in the heart of the coastal metropolis comes as a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is due to come into force on Sunday, intended to put an end to more than 15 months of war which has ravaged the Gaza Strip.
Initially, the police reported several injuries from gunfire. But “the first elements of the investigation reveal that a terrorist armed with a knife stabbed a civilian” on rue Levontin, the police then indicated in a press release. “An armed civilian who was nearby opened fire and neutralized the terrorist”adds the text, without specifying whether the attacker had been killed or simply injured.
The Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, indicates for its part that it received a call at 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. in Paris) reporting a man injured in “a knife attack”. Rescuers evacuated this man, aged under 30, in a conscious state to a hospital, adds the MDA, suggesting that his life is not in danger.
-Update : at 4:45 p.m., with new statements from the Israeli police.
