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Israel attack: Two police officers shot dead in Hadera Israel: Two police killed by Israeli Arab gunmen in Hadera
(about 3 hours later)
Two police officers have been shot dead in an attack in the northern Israeli city of Hadera. It was the second deadly attack claimed by IS in Israel within five days
Police said the gunmen were Israeli Arab citizens. They were shot dead by undercover officers. Two police officers have been killed in an attack by two Israeli Arab gunmen in the northern Israeli city of Hadera.
The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack in a statement posted on social media. The assailants were shot dead by counter-terrorism officers who happened to be at a restaurant nearby.
It comes days after an attacker identified as an IS supporter killed four Israelis in the southern city of Beersheba. The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack - the second within days by Israeli Arabs linked to the jihadist organisation.
One of the assailants in the latest incident tried to join IS and officials are looking for connections between the attacks, Haaretz reports. It came as Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Israel for the first time for a summit.
Four other people were taken to hospital after the attack in Hadera, and two others were treated at the site of the shooting. Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid, who is meeting the ministers from Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, said his counterparts condemned the attack.
Police said counterterrorism officers happened to be in a restaurant near the shooting and brought the attack to an end. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is in Israel for the summit, also denounced the killings.
"Our officers managed to neutralise the assailants and prevent a bigger terrorist attack," national police spokesman Eli Levy told Israeli TV. We condemn today’s terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel. Such senseless acts of violence and murder have no place in society. We stand with our Israeli partners and send our condolences to the families of the victims.
The Islamic State group's claim of responsibility is unusual - the intelligence group SITE said it was the first time it had taken credit for an attack in Israel since 2017. The gunmen opened fire at a bus stop on Sunday night, killing the two police officers and wounding other people. CCTV footage of the attack shows the men shooting with an automatic weapon and a handgun, before one takes a weapon off the body of one of the victims. The attackers were shot dead by undercover officers from a counter-terrorism unit who happened to be at a restaurant close by.
Sunday's incident occurred as Israel hosts an historic summit with three Arab League states with which it has normalised ties, as well as Egypt and the US. The two police who were killed were named as Yezen Falah and Shirel Abukart, both aged 19.
Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that all his counterparts at the meeting had condemned the attack. However, it was praised by the Hamas militant group which governs Gaza as a "heroic operation". The attackers were identified as residents of the Israeli Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, about 25km (16 miles) east of Hadera. It came just five days after four Israelis were killed in an attack by an Israeli Arab IS sympathiser outside a shopping centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. The assailant in that incident was shot dead by a bus driver.
There have been several recent attacks amid concerns that tensions are rising ahead of religious holidays. Attacks in Israel linked to IS are rare, the last being in June 2017 when IS said it was behind a gun and knife attack in Jerusalem that killed a policewoman.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned the attack on Sunday night, saying "the heart breaks" for the victims, killed by "vile murderers".
"A second attack by ISIS [IS] supporters inside Israel requires the security forces to adapt quickly to the new threat. And so we will do," he said.
Following the attack, Israel's chief of staff ordered the deployment of extra troops to the occupied West Bank, while police forces across the country have also been put on a heightened state of alert.
There are fears of further incidents in the month ahead, when the Muslim festival of Ramadan, the Jewish festival of Passover and the Christian festival of Easter coincide in a rare convergence.