After Israel launched its biggest airstrikes on Lebanon in 17 years, tensions in the region remained high Saturday after two Israeli sisters were shot dead in the West Bank and at an Italian tourist was killed in a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv.
Israeli police said in a series of tweets on Friday that the car plowed into a group of people near a popular bike and walking path in Tel Aviv and overturned. The driver was shot dead by a nearby police officer who noticed him “trying to reach for what looked like a rifle-like object,” police said.
They added that the driver was 45 years old, and a resident of Kfar Kasem, a small town about 14 miles west of Tel Aviv.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni identified the victim as Alessandro Parini, in a tweet. She did not provide any more details about him. “Closeness to the victim’s family, to the wounded and solidarity with the State of Israel for the cowardly attack that hit him,” she wrote.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement that five others were transported to the hospital in moderate to mild condition. It added that all of them were tourists.
The ramming came hours after two Israeli sisters, 20 and 16 years old who had joint British nationality were shot dead in an attack on their car near the Jewish settlement of Hamra in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said. Their mother was also seriously injured.
No groups have claimed responsibility for either attack, but Hamas, a militant group that runs Gaza praised both incidents as retaliation for Israeli raids and violence in al-Aqsa mosque in east Jersualem earlier this week. Islamic Jihad issued a similar statement.
As soldiers hunted for the gunman, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered border police reserves and additional military forces to be mobilized to confront the wave of attacks.
The State Department condemned both attacks in a statement in which it reaffirmed America’s “enduring commitment…
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