Israel Revokes Ramadan Permits for Palestinians After Tel Aviv Attack

Tel Aviv, 05 Ramadan 1437/10 June 2016 (MINA) – Israel revoked 83,000 travel permits allowing Palestinians to enter the country and said it would send two more army battalions to the occupied West Bank a day after a Palestinian shooting spree killed four Israelis.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack by two gunmen Wednesday evening at a popular Tel Aviv food market, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA reported, quoting wsj.com.

Sami Abu Zohri, a spokesman for the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called the attack a “normal response” to the Israeli occupation.

Without explicitly referring to the shootings, the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement condemning attacks on civilians “regardless of its sources and justifications.” The authority governs the West Bank.

The assailants came from near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Relatives of the Palestinian gunmen identified the cousins as Mohammad Makhamreh, a construction worker, and Khalid Makhamreh, a student at the University of Jordan in Amman.

The Israeli military, which oversees the country’s activities in the West Bank, said it was rescinding Israeli work permits for 204 relatives of the two men. The military also declared Yatta, their village near the West Bank city of Hebron, a closed military zone.

The two men, wearing suits and ties, were shown in closed-circuit television footage standing up from their table at a restaurant in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market and opening fire on customers. One was arrested and the other was rushed to the hospital after being shot and subdued by police.

The gunmen’s relatives said Thursday the shooting reflected the despair young Palestinians feel over the lack of concrete steps toward establishing a Palestinian state.

“I’m against killing of innocents,” said Khalid Makhrameh’s father, Mohammed. “The occupation is to blame. The Palestinian Authority is to blame. The youth have no leadership.” (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)