Palestinian gunmen kill four in Tel Aviv

Two Palestinian gunmen killed four people at a popular shopping and restaurant area in Tel Aviv on Wednesday in an attack that sent diners, some clutching small children, running for their lives just outside Israel’s Defence Ministry.

Both gunmen, identified by police as Palestinians from a village near the city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, were apprehended, and one was wounded.

Security footage showed the two, dressed in suits and ties and posing as customers at a restaurant, suddenly pull out automatic weapons and open fire, shooting one man point blank, as other diners fled.

Police said the assailants killed four people in the 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) assault and that six were wounded.

The attack, as families were enjoying a balmy evening out at the trendy Sarona complex, was one of the most serious in the country’s business and entertainment capital since a wave of Palestinian violence erupted eight months ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, returning from a visit to Moscow, rushed directly to the Defence Ministry to assess the situation with senior ministers and security chiefs. He toured the scene later and described the attack as “cold-blooded murder.”

“We held a consultation about the series of offensive and defensive measures that we will implement to act against the grave phenomenon of shootings. They certainly challenge us, but we will provide an answer,” Netanyahu told reporters.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack in “the strongest possible terms,” saying in a statement: These cowardly attacks against innocent civilians can never be justified.”

A lull over the past several months in what had been near-daily stabbings and shootings made the attack just meters (yards) from the sprawling defense compound surprising and was likely to bring back a sense of insecurity to Israeli streets. (Courtesy Reuters)