Israeli authorities said that a Palestinian gunman shot and killed an Israeli patrolman in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
Two Tel Aviv municipal patrol bikers saw the suspect and shouted for him to stop, which caused him to reach for a gun and shoot one of them, according to Israel Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai.
The second patrolman took a shot at the offender after pursuing him with his own weapon.
The wounded police officer and the shooter were both brought to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center-Ichilov, which first declared the shooter dead before confirming the officer’s demise.
Chen Amir, 42, a married father of three, was identified as the officer by the hospital.
According to the Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue agency, when emergency medical personnel arrived at the shooting scene, Amir was unresponsive and not breathing or having a pulse.
According to MDA, he was brought to the hospital in a mobile ICU.
The suspect was described as being 27 years old by both Commissioner Shabtai and the Israel Police spokesperson’s section. He has not yet received a public naming.
The incident, coupled with an additional attack on a Palestinian by an Israeli settler on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, was classified as “a terror attack” by the US State Department.
The State Department sent a statement on Twitter, now known as X, that read:
“We vehemently condemn the recent terrorist assaults against Israelis as well as the terrorist attack that took place today in Tel Aviv, which left one person dead and two more injured. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and demand an end to these violent crimes and acts of instigation to violence, the statement said.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian militant organisations, both applauded the attack and claimed that “it is a normal response to settler attacks and a defence of the holy sites.”
No one has formally accepted responsibility.