Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority President, has issued a condemnation of the terrorist attack that killed five people in Bnei Brak just yesterday.
A statement from Abbas’s office said that the president: “Expressed his condemnation of the killing of Israeli civilians tonight, emphasizing that the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads the situation to deteriorate.”
In the past week, 11 Israelis have died in fatal terror attacks across the country.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been celebrating the death of Israeli civilians across the Palestinian territories sparking the break of silence from Abbas.
On Tuesday night, a gunman from the West Bank who had illegally entered Israel, opened fire at civilians and police in Bnei Brak killing five people including a police officer.
The gunman was named as 26-year-old Diaa Hamarsheh, from the Arab town of Ya’abad near Jenin in the West Bank. He’d previously been to prison for security offences in 2013. Suspected accomplices to the attack have since been arrested by police.
“The cycle of violence confirms that a comprehensive, just and stable peace is the shortest, most correct path to security and stability for both peoples” said Abbas.
Abbas also noted that the holy month of Ramadan was approaching, as well as Jewish and Christian holidays, saying: “we all aim to realize stability” during the holiday period.
Since the most recent attack, pro-Hamas media have been circulating videos of what they said were Ya’abad citizens, gathering in front of the dead terrorist Hamarsheh’s home to show unity with the Bnei Brak gunman. In the footage, town residents can be heard chanting “Millions of martyrs are marching to Jerusalem.”
“The Tel Aviv operation emphasized the unity of the Palestine people everywhere they live” said Hamas official, Mushir al-Masri on Al-Aqsa TV, a television channel associated with the terror group.
Palestinian terror groups have praised the deadly shooting spree, though no groups have taken responsibility for the attack.
Tension in the area has already been heightened after two attacks carried out by Arab Israeli terrorists left six people dead over the past week.
The attacks have reportedly been inspired by the terrorist group Islamic state rather than by Hamas or another Palestinian group.
Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist Ra’am party in the current Israeli coalition government, also condemned the attacks and said: “We will not stop at merely condemning, because the terror is not stopping and does not bow its head. We are determined to walk a peaceful path despite all the extremists.”
Arab Israeli politician Ayman Odeh also condemned the terror attacks but he compared the Israelis killed in Bnei Brak to Palestinians killed during collisions with Israeli forces.
Odeh said “Five civilians were killed today – each a world in their own right. They join the 51 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year – each one a world in its own right."
