BICOM

What happened: Three Israelis were injured, one critically, after a terrorist gunman opened fire in Tel Aviv on Thursday night.

• Mutaz Salah al-Khawaja, 23, began shooting at passersby at the intersection of Dizengoff Street and Ben-Gurion Boulevard at around 9.00pm.
• He then fled to a nearby building before later leaving and being shot dead by four people, including police officers and an off-duty reserve IDF officer.
• Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv confirmed that one of the shooting victims was given emergency life-saving surgery on arrival but that their life remained in danger.
• Injuries to the other two were described as non-life threatening and their condition as “serious and light-to-moderate”.
• Clashes later occurred between troops and locals in al-Khawaja’s West Bank home village of Ni’lin when troops entered to map out his home following Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s order for its immediate razing.
• The IDF confirmed one “hit”, while Al-Khawaja’s father and another family member were arrested as locals launched Molotov cocktails, hurled stones, and set up flaming roadblocks.
• Earlier on Thursday, three Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists were shot dead after opening fire on undercover Israeli forces personnel attempting an arrest raid in the West Bank village of Jaba’, south of Jenin.
• Weapons and explosives were found in the suspects’ car, while the IDF confirmed that a Skylark drone was downed during the operation.
• In further raids netting 15 arrests on Thursday morning, troops also came under fire in other West Bank locations.
• In a separate incident on Thursday, A Palestinian man was shot and killed attempting to launch an attack with a knife and IEDs after breaking into the Havat Dorot Illit farm near the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron.
• Elsewhere, troops searched Beitar Illit after an IED was found on a bus in the West Bank settlement.
• IDF troops also came under fire from Palestinian gunmen while operating in Tulkarem last night

Context: Thursday’s events follow a previous week in which deadly terror attacks killed brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv and Elan Ganeles, and also saw the riot by settlers in Huwara claim the life of one Palestinian resident.

• The rise in terrorism in recent months has left 14 Israelis dead and many others, including the latest victims, injured.
• At least 74 Palestinians have been killed, the vast majority either in the midst of terrorist activity or during clashes with Israeli troops.
• On Tuesday, six Palestinians were killed, including the terrorist responsible for the murders of the Yaniv brothers in Huwara last week, during an IDF raid in Jenin.
• A seventh Palestinian, a fourteen-year-old boy succumbed yesterday morning to wounds sustained in the operation.
• Defence Minister Yoav Gallant yesterday hosted US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, with their talks including discussion of the escalation in violence.
• In public remarks Gallant highlighted the importance of seeking stability and security with a priority on the “economic prosperity and well-being of the Palestinian people”. However, “This should never come at the expense of the life of a single citizen of Israel.”
• Dizengoff Street is a busy and popular area of Tel Aviv and was crowded with post-Purim revellers at the time of Thursday’s attack.
• It was also the site of deadly terror attacks last year (killing three) and in 2016 (killing two).
• Israeli Police Chief Kobi Shabtai noted that the attack could have proven even worse. “We had a lot of luck here,” he said; “the fast reaction of the cops and citizens on the site prevented the murder of hundreds of people.”
• Protests against the government’s judicial reform were occurring nearby and diverted from their planned arrival in Dizengoff Street.
• Hamas claimed al-Khawaja as a member and called the attack a “natural response” to recent Israeli raids, without explicitly claiming responsibility.
• Al-Khawaja was in Israel without a valid permit and had previously served two Israeli prison sentences for weapons smuggling.
• British Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan tweeted “A shocking attack in Tel Aviv tonight – close to the British Embassy and somewhere we walk past often. I wish a swift recovery to the injured. The UK condemns such terrorism.”
• In the context of rising violence, five former police commissioners, three former senior Prison Service officials, and dozens of other former law enforcement officials wrote to Netanyahu urging the removal of Itamar Ben Gvir as National Security Minister.
• The letter said that Ben Gvir’s policies, including his plans to continue house demolitions in East Jerusalem during the flashpoint period of Ramadan, were akin to “throwing a lit match into a barrel of gunpowder, which could in the best case bring about a third intifada, and in the worst case ignite an unnecessary fire in the Muslim world.”
• Tel Aviv District Police Commander Amichai Eshed rushed to attend the scene of the Tel Aviv shooting on the same day he was fired by Ben Gvir, reportedly over the latter’s view that he had been too soft in his response to protesters.

Looking ahead: Netanyahu’s office confirmed that he will remain in Italy until Sunday, as scheduled.

• Israeli officials remain braced for further escalations in the run-up to and during Ramadan, which this year begins on March 22^nd and partially coincides with Pesach.