Israel has hunted down and killed the Palestinian terrorist who shot people dead and injured several others in central Tel Aviv on Tuesday. The terrorist has been identified as Ra'ad Fathi Hazem, a Palestinian from the Jenin refugee camp, the Jerusalem Post has reported.
Israel has seen a wave of terror attacks in recent weeks, with as many as 13 Israelis dying in terror attacks in various parts of the country in the last two and a half weeks.
Killed in Encounter
The Israeli police said the assailant was killed in an encounter in Jaffa, early on Friday. He was hiding near a mosque in the area when the Shin Bet officers in the search team located him. The Israeli forces said the attacker, who unleashed terror on the busy DizengoffStreet in Tel Aviv on Thursday, opened fire at the officers.
Who is Ra'ad Fathi Hazem?
According to the Shin Bet, the shooter was not known to have any affiliation with extremist organizations. He also did not have a past criminal history and had not been arrested before. However, it has been reported that he had entered Israel illegally.
The JPost cited Palestinian reports that said the terrorist's father was a senior officer with the Palestinian Authority security forces.
It's also being reported that the people in the immediate family of the attacker had been Fatah activists and some of them had been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces in the past.
The report also said one of the uncles of the assailant had praised him after the Tel Aviv shooting. Facebook, saying that he had joined his uncles who were affiliated with Fatah and were killed in clashes with security forces.
The report says that the father of the terrorist praised him on video outside his Palestine house. "You will see the victory soon... God, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the occupiers," he reportedly told the crowd.
Immediately after the un attack on Thursday, Israeli launched a massive manhunt involving at least 1,000 officers. "After a difficult night, and after long hours of joint activity by the Israel Police, the Shin Bet and the IDF, we succeeded this morning, in operational and intelligence cooperation, in closing a circle and eliminating the terrorist by exchange of fire ... We emphasized that no matter how much it takes, we will catch the terrorist, alive or dead, and indeed the contact this morning was a quick and determined response from the Shin Bet and YAMAM fighters in Jaffa," Israel Police Chief Kobi Shabtai said, JPost reported.
