Attack in Israel on the 74th anniversary of the independence of the Jewish state.
According to state TV reports, two gunmen opened fire in Elad , a predominantly Orthodox town in central Israel near the West Bank.
The toll speaks of three dead and three four injured .
After the incident, the authorities asked the population to stay indoors.
From a first reconstruction of the incident, the two suspects would have acted in different areas of the city, using firearms and even a white weapon, perhaps a large knife or an ax . Then they fled, in a white van.
To track them down, local authorities have set up various checkpoints along the border line between the West Bank and the province of Elad.
After the attack came a message from Hamas , which hailed the attackers as "heroes" . "That operation - said spokesman Hazem Kassem - is a consequence of the Palestinian anger over the repeated attacks by the occupiers, their institutions and their
settlers against the al-Aqsa mosque "in Jerusalem, where incidents have also occurred today." The Palestinian people - he added - are determined to defend their holy places. Any desecration of the mosque must always be punished ".
In recent days , Hamas leader Yihia Sinwar had appealed to the Palestinians to take up arms to "defend al-Aqsa".
(Unioneonline / lf)
