Italian tourist killed, seven others hurt in terror attack on Tel Aviv promenade

Italian tourist killed, seven others hurt in terror attack on Tel Aviv promenade

Emanuel Fabian

An Italian tourist was killed and seven others were hurt in a terror attack on a promenade in Tel Aviv on Friday night, police and medics said.

According to law enforcement officials, the alleged terrorist carried out a car-ramming attack and appeared to try to access a weapon to open fire on Kaufmann Street, leaving a trail of carnage along several hundred meters and into the adjacent Charles Clore Park, a popular seaside promenade.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said one of the victims, a man in his 30s, had died, and seven others were hurt, with three in moderate condition.

The fatality was later identified as Italian national Alessandro Parini, a 35-year-old lawyer from Rome. The wounded victims were also tourists from Italy and the United Kingdom, according to hospital officials. They were not named.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her solidarity with Israel following the “cowardly attack” in Tel Aviv in which seven other people were injured, including other tourists.

“Deep sorrow and condolences for the death of one of our nationals, Alessandro Parini, in the terrorist attack that took place in the evening in Tel Aviv. Condolences to the victim’s family, to the wounded, and solidarity with the State of Israel for the cowardly attack that hit him,” she wrote on Twitter. Meloni said her government was in contact with Israeli authorities about the wounded victims, some of whom are also Italian nationals.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, also the minister of foreign affairs, likewise condemned the attack in Tel Aviv and said the ministry was working with Israeli authorities on the matter.

The attack was the second deadly incident of the day, after a shooting in the West Bank Friday morning killed two sisters and left their mother fighting for her life. The uptick in violence has come as tensions have spiked in recent days following Israeli police incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to quell rioting; on Thursday, Hamas terrorists fired volleys of rockets at Israel from Gaza and Lebanon, authorities said.

The terrorist in the Tel Aviv attack was named as Yousef Abu Jaber, 45, a resident of Kafr Qassem. He had no known prior security offenses.

Shin Bet agents and police officers were at Jaber’s home in the central Arab-majority city on Friday night to question his family members.

The People’s Committee in Kafr Qassem, a local leadership group, said in a statement that members “strongly condemn the serious attack that took place tonight, send our condolences to the family of the person murdered, and wish a speedy recovery to those injured.”

“We condemn any harm to innocent lives and call for tolerance from all sides. This is not the way of the residents of Kafr Qassem. The city was and remains a place for living together and pursuing peace,” the group said.

Following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed police to mobilize all reserve Border Police companies and the military to call up additional reservists, his office said in a short statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. 

Surveillance camera footage showed the attacker’s vehicle speeding toward pedestrians walking near the park, before overturning.