An Israeli security officer was critically wounded in a terror shooting in a busy area of Tel Aviv. The incident occurred on Saturday evening when two Tel Aviv municipal security officers approached a suspect walking on the corner of Montefiore and Nachalat Binyamin streets, which are known for their crowded restaurants, cafes, and bars. The suspect initially refused to respond to their calls and then pulled out a handgun, opening fire and hitting one of the guards.
The wounded officer, in his 40s, was taken to the nearby Ichilov Hospital in critical condition. The second officer returned fire, ultimately shooting and killing the Palestinian gunman, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. Both the wounded officer and the gunman were taken to the same hospital, where the gunman was pronounced dead.
According to the officer who shot the gunman, he and his partner noticed the suspect standing near a bar with a backpack and became suspicious when he didn’t make eye contact as they approached on their motorcycles. The officer said that as his partner tried to prop up his motorcycle, the terrorist pulled out a handgun and fired at him. The officer then fired back, chased after the gunman, and continued shooting until he fell to the ground.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai praised the officer’s quick and professional action, saving lives and averting a potential disaster in the crowded area. The Palestinian gunman was later identified as Kamel Abu Bakr, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
The incident occurred during ongoing protests against the government’s judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv. Tensions have remained high in the region due to a series of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries since the beginning of the year.