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Media Summary

Reaction continues to Tel Aviv terror attack

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The Guardian, Daily Mail and Daily Star all cover the terror shooting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, in which four Israelis were killed by Palestinian gunmen dressed as customers in a popular entertainment district. The victims were yesterday named as 40-year-old Ilana Nave, 41-year-old Ido Ben Ari, 58-year-old Michael Feige and 32-year-old Mila Mishayev, who was waiting for her fiancé. The Daily Mail notes that the attack took place while the annual conference of a top UK tourism industry body took place in Tel Aviv. Around 350 delegates, including British MPs, are in Tel Aviv to discuss industry issues and experience Israel as a tourist destination.

The Telegraph, Financial Times, Guardian, Times, Daily Express, Metro, Evening Standard, i and the online edition of the Independent all cover the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack. Extra travel permits for Palestinians to travel during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have been frozen, while movement has been limited in and out of Yatta, the village near Hebron in the West Bank where the two terrorists lived. Meanwhile, Palestinians will not be permitted to travel from the West Bank to Israel until Sunday. The Times notes that Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered that the bodies of terrorists not be returned to their families for the time being.

Writing in the Telegraph online, Charles Kirchofer of King’s College London, says that Israel faces three options in responding to terror – Continuing with the status quo, imposing additional measures in the West Bank and moving towards a push for peace. He says that only the “road to two states” does not lead “directly into the terrorists’ hands”.

The Telegraph online says that food aid has been delivered to the opposition-held Syrian town of Daraya for the first time since 2012. The Guardian online reports that the United Nations’ special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that aid drops by air into towns such as Daraya would require the “benign blessing” of the Assad regime, a comment likely to anger opposition groups.

The Israeli media this morning is dominated by the fallout from Wednesday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv. After the names of the four victims were released yesterday, it is the top item in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Israel Hayom, which defiantly proclaims on its front page “They won’t defeat us.” Meanwhile, Haaretz highlights that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last night that a third person had been arrested in connection with the attack, in addition to the two gunmen who were apprehended at the scene.

In a remarkable angle on the shooting, the top story in Yediot Ahronot and Maariv details how an Israeli policeman, who lives with his family near the scene of the shooting, allowed a man who he believed to be a distressed civilian into his home for a glass of water, only to discover that the guest was one of the terrorists. The policeman immediately apprehended the man.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio news reports that two of the victims of Wednesday’s attack will be buried today. It also reports comments made by US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, who yesterday called on Israel to respond with restraint to the shooting, in order to prevent an escalation to the situation.