2 dead, at least 15 injured in shooting at Tel Aviv bar

TEL AVIV, Israel – Two people were killed and at least 15 others injured in a shooting at a bar in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, authorities said.

A suspect is said to have opened fire in the bar shortly after 9 p.m. and they have yet to be taken into custody, according to Tel Aviv police. The bar is located in a busy restaurant and nightlife district in the heart of Tel Aviv.

Israel’s National Emergency Service, Magen David Adom, transported the two men to the Ichilov hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Three other people – a 20-year-old man, a 28-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man – were also taken to Ichilov hospital with gunshot wounds and are in serious condition.

According to Magen David Adom, two people were taken to Wolfson Hospital with non-gunfire injuries.

His office said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was monitoring the situation from the Israeli military headquarters, also located in downtown Tel Aviv.

Details of how the shooting took place or the suspect’s possible motives were not immediately clear.

Police said there were “indications” of a terrorist attack – the fourth deadly attack in Israel in less than three weeks at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. The militant group Hamas that governs the Gaza Strip praised the attack, but did not claim responsibility.

On March 29, a 27-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank methodically opened fire on people in the city of Bnei Brak, killing five people. Two days earlier, a shooting by two Islamic State sympathizers in the city of Hadera killed two police officers.

Last week, an IS sympathizer killed four people in a hit-and-run attack in the southern city of Beersheba. The Hadera and Beersheba attacks were carried out by Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Paul Goldman reports from Tel Aviv, Israel. Doha Madani reports from New York City.

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