Three Israeli settlers wounded, one critically, in central Tel Aviv shooting

At least three Israeli settlers have been injured, including one critically, when a young Palestinian man opened fire at them in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, hours after Israeli forces martyred three Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli police said the Palestinian man opened fire at the settlers outside a cafe on the corner of Dizengoff Street and Ben Gurion Street on Thursday night. He then fled the scene before being shot and martyred in a shootout with police officers a short time later.

He was later identified as 23-year-old Mutaz Salah al-Khawaja, a Palestinian man from the West Bank town of Ni’lin who had been twice jailed by Israeli forces.

The Palestinian man was shot and martyred by four armed individuals, including two Israeli police officers who were at the scene, one of whom was off duty. The other two included a settler and a reserve officer, Israeli officials said.

The injured settlers were evacuated to Ichilov Hospital. One of them arrived in critical condition after being shot in the neck. Another arrived in moderate condition with gunshot wounds, while the third was slightly injured by shrapnel, according to the medical staff at the hospital.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said in a statement that Khawaja was a member of its military wing – the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

It said the attack was a “natural response” to recent deadly Israeli military raids in the West Bank but did not explicitly take responsibility for the shooting.

"The occupiers wanted to bring the Palestinian people to their knees, but this operation deep in the occupation regime means the determination of the Palestinians to stand against the occupation," Dawood Shehab, a Spokesman for the Islamic Jihad movement, said.

Israeli forces stormed the West Bank town of Ni’lin, near Ramallah, shortly after midnight and raided the home of al-Khawaja.

The raid came after Israeli Minister of War Yoav Gallant ordered the troops to “immediately” begin work to demolish the Palestinian man’s home.

ME