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This is the dramatic moment police chased down and shot dead a Palestinian gunman who had gunned down five people in a terror rampage in Israel this week.
Diaa Armashah, 27, from the West Bank village of Yabad, opened fire on Tuesday evening with an M-16 assault rifle in Bnei Brak, a mostly Jewish Orthodox city near Tel Aviv, killing two Ukrainians, two Israeli civilians and an Arab-Israeli officer.
Bodycam footage shared by Israeli police shows an officer tearing through the streets on the back of a motorbike hunting down the killer.
Police chased down and shot dead a Palestinian gunman who had gunned down five people in a terror rampage in Israel this week
Bodycam footage shared by Israeli police shows an officer tearing through the streets on the back of a motorbike hunting down the killer
After arriving on the scene, the officer jumps off the bike and fires multiple shots, taking down the gunman before kicking away his weapon.
One of the police motorcycle sergeants, Amir Khoury, 32, was among those killed in the massacre.
Another was a teacher shielding his two-year-old son from bullets.
Avishai Yehezkel, 29, was taking his son for a walk and was on the phone with his wife Naama who is currently eight months pregnant with their second child.
He told her he could hear the sound of fireworks before they ended their call, not realising gunfire was ringing out in the city.
After arriving on the scene, the officer jumps off the bike and fires multiple shots, taking down the gunman before kicking away his weapon
One of the police motorcycle sergeants, Amir Khoury (left), 32, was among those killed in the massacre. Avishai Yehezkel (right), 29, was taking his son for a walk and died shielding him from a shower of bullets
Pictured: Israeli mourners attend the funeral of Avishai Yehezkel, one of the five people killed in yesterdays shooting attack in the ultra-Orthodoz town of Bnei Brak on March 30, 2022
The first victim, Yaakov Shalom, 36, was driving by when Armashah opened fire, killing him in his car
The two other victims were Ukrainians Victor Sorokopot (left), 38, and Dmitri Mitrik (right), 23, who had been working in a grocery store
After realising a killing spree was unfolding, Avishai rang his brother Ovadia who lives nearby, warning him not to go out, before he was shot dead.
At the teacher’s funeral yesterday, Ovadia said, according to The Times: ‘You told me to stay home and I didn’t hear from you again. You protected your son with your own, brother, like an eagle, and took the bullets. You showed true Jewish bravery.’
The first victim, Yaakov Shalom, 36, was driving by when Armashah opened fire, killing him in his car.
The father of five was supposed to have his children in the car with him at the time but his wife had called them to their flat.
The two other victims were Ukrainians Victor Sorokopot, 38, and Dmitri Mitrik, 23, who had been working in a grocery store after arriving in the country on short-term visas just before the Russian invasion.
Chilling video of the attack showed a gunman on a motorcycle methodically gunning down bystanders with an assault rifle in the middle of the suburban streets
Pictured: A body lies covered on the ground at the scene of an attack in Bnei Brak on Tuesday
The Ukrainian embassy condemned the ‘heinous terrorist attack’.
Israel was home to around 15,000 Ukrainians before Russia invaded Ukraine last month. It has since received nearly 20,000 refugees from Ukraine, an interior ministry spokeswoman said.
In retaliation today after a string of terror attacks, Israel has carried out a raid on the West Bank today, killing a Palestinian.
Armashah had previously spent six months in prison in Israel in 2013 after plotting a terror attack against Jews, but he has not yet been linked with any Palestinian group.
In a statement after a meeting with security officials Wednesday, prime minister Naftali Bennett said more than 200 people had been arrested or questioned by security forces.
He called on Israelis who own arms to ensure that they carry them when out, adding that ‘Israeli society, when it is tested, knows how to stand up and mobilise’.
Friends and family mourn at the funeral of Avishai Yehezkel who was killed during the Tuesday night attack. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned of a ‘wave of murderous Arab terrorism’
Two of the victims were identified as Yaakov Shalom, 36, and Avishai Yehezkel, 29, both ultra-Orthodox residents of Bnei Brak. Pictured: Ultra-orthodox Jewish mourners gather for the funeral of Yehezkel on Wednesday in the town
Defence minister Benny Gantz meanwhile said at a press conference that he had authorised the detention of two residents of east Jerusalem who were suspected of being Hamas members.
He added that he was considering putting out a call for army reservists.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas issued a rare condemnation, saying the killings ‘will only lead to further deterioration of the situation, while we are all striving for stability’.
But Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Islamist group Hamas that rules the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, praised what he described as a ‘heroic operation’ and ‘legitimate and moral valiant resistance to end the occupation’.
US President Joe Biden expressed his ‘deepest condolences’ during a phone call with Bennett and said that his country ‘stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the state of Israel,’ according to a White House readout.
Pictured: Men mourn the death of Avishai Yehezkel, 29, who was shot and killed in a terrorist attack in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel
A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile said ‘such acts of violence can never be justified and must be condemned by all’.
Police said on Wednesday that they had arrested a West Bank Palestinian suspect for posting videos on TikTok ‘identifying with the terror attack in Bnei Brak’ and an 18-year-old Israeli citizen from the Bedouin city of Rahat on suspicion of supporting the Islamic State group.
‘Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism,’ said Bennett, whose disparate coalition government ranges from Jewish nationalists to Arabs.
Tuesday’s shooting brings to 11 the total death toll from attacks in Israel over the past week, excluding the perpetrators.
On Sunday, two gunmen killed two Israeli police officers in the northern city of Hadera.
That assault by Arab citizens of Israel was later claimed by the Islamic State group – the jihadists’ first claim of an attack on Israeli territory since 2017.
Israeli police said the two assailants were killed at the scene.
Hamas also praised that attack, as did the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad militant group and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Sunday’s attack coincided with a landmark meeting between Israel’s foreign minister and those of four Arab countries with ties to the Jewish state, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Last week, a convicted IS sympathiser killed four Israelis in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
The latest attack came as defence minister Gantz visited Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss ways to ensure calm in the Palestinian territories during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Jordan serves as the custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Tensions flared last year during the fasting month, leading to 11 days of heavy armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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