RAMALLAH/GAZA, May 6 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday condemned a deadly axe attack in central Israel, while the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) justified the attack as a response to Israel’s recent violations against Palestinian sanctities.
“The killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads to a further deterioration of the situation,” Abbas was quoted as saying.
Abbas warned that the incident would be used as an excuse “to carry out attacks and reactions against our Palestinian people.”
Last night, Israeli authorities said that, two Palestinians armed with axes attacked passers-by in the central Israeli city of Elad, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city, east of Tel Aviv, killing at least three people and wounding four others before fleeing the scene.
Israel condemned the killers as terrorists, and has launched a manhunt for them. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Hamas and other Palestinian factions hailed the attack and said, in separate statements that, it is “a natural response to the endless Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.”
Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, yesterday played down the Israeli threats to target Hamas leaders, following the axe attack, adding, “Al-Aqsa is a red line that is not subject to any compromises.”
The movement’s politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, said in a press statement that, the Israeli threats to assassinate Palestinian leaders “will not deter us from defending our land and our sanctity,” and “the Palestinians will not keep silent when the sanctities, mainly the Al-Aqsa Mosque, are targeted.”
The Elad attack came amid Israel’s celebration of the 74th Independence Day and the rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions caused by a recent spate of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis, fatal Israeli raids in the West Bank, and repeated clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Since March, 18 Israelis have been killed in more than five shooting and stabbing attacks in northern, central, and southern Israel, according to the Israeli media, which said, the attacks are the most deadly ones in seven years.
