Tel Aviv Shooter's Brother Says He's Proud of Terror Attack That Killed 4 Israelis
As Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza strip to restrict the entry of Palestinians into the country after the terror attack in Tel Aviv, which killed four people and injured over a dozen, the brother of one of the two shooters said, "I'm very proud" of what he did.
"I'm very proud of what Muhammed did," Hussein Ahmad, the older brother of one of the shooters, Mohammed Ahmad Mahamra, said, according to Haaretz.
Mohammed and his cousin, Khaled Mohammed Mahamra, opened fire Wednesday night at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv, killing four and injuring over a dozen before they were arrested.
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One of their relatives, Khaled Mahamra, is a Hamas member who was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange deal and re-arrested after the kidnapping and murdering of three Jewish youths in 2014.
Mohammed's father, Ahmad Mahamra, said "Our conditions drove or motivated them to do these things."
The family is from the Palestinian market town of Yatta, south of Hebron.
Gordon Robertson, CEO of Christian Broadcasting Network, which has a Jerusalem office, said on Thursday, "This latest terrorist attack is a direct result of incitement within the Palestinian community in the West Bank and points to the encouragement of violent anti-semitism by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement."
"We at CBN, and many others in the Christian community around the world, strongly condemn these acts of violence and stand with Israel."
CNN reported that one of the two suspects was arrested from a police officer's home, where he was hiding among a group of people the officer had offered to shelter. He wasn't carrying any arms at the time. After the off-duty officer visited the scene of the terror attack, he realized that one of the men in his home was wearing clothes that looked similar to what the other suspected gunman who had been shot and captured was wearing.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities closed the country's borders with the West Bank and Gaza strip from Friday, according to the Israel Defence Forces, which said the shutdown will remain until midnight on Sunday, according to Independent.
"In accordance with government directives and the ongoing situation assessment, as of today crossing from the Gaza Strip and Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank) will be open to Palestinians only in medical and humanitarian cases," AFP quoted a spokesperson as saying.
Palestinians who have special permits to pray in Jerusalem would be allowed to enter, according to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
Thousands of security personnel have also been deployed in Jerusalem Friday to patrol on the first prayers of Ramadan and to prevent any tensions between Muslims and Jews, according to Jerusalem Post.
A spokesman for the Jerusalem District Police was quoted as saying that the preparations for an increased security had been made before the Wednesday night's incident in Tel Aviv, and that police didn't have any information on a specific terrorism warnings in the capital.
