On Tuesday evening, a horrific shooting attack took place in Jaffa as two terrorists unleashed a deadly assault on the light rail along Jerusalem Boulevard, claiming the lives of seven residents. Security forces subsequently neutralized both perpetrators. Both attackers are Palestinians from the Hebron area. It was unclear how they entered Israel, and why they were allowed to board the light rail with weapons before firing on bystanders on the platform.
Rom Ela, an emergency medical technician with United Hatzalah first responder organization, provided details of the unfolding situation: "We initially received reports of injured individuals near the train station on Jerusalem Boulevard.
Bystanders then informed us of additional casualties on nearby streets, prompting our teams to expand their response to multiple locations. Some of the victims we treated were unconscious. As of now, we've operated across four different streets." Six people were pronounced dead shortly after the incident, while another one died early Wednesday morning.
Hanan Peretz, head of division in the police, recounted at the scene of the attack: "Several teams arrived at the location and spotted a terrorist with a long weapon, possibly an assault rifle. As he fled, he was aiming the weapon, but was subsequently neutralized. The inspectors at the scene prevented harm to additional individuals."
Shai Peretz, an eyewitness to the attack, described the harrowing scene: "I saw a tall, thin man with a gunfiring in every direction at anyone who appeared in front of him. He shot two women and another man who was passing by on a bicycle. The man was hit and fell to the ground. We need to conduct a thorough review here."