Suspected stabber had Israeli working permit

The stabbing attack outside of a makeshift prayer room in a Tel Aviv office building, which comes almost exactly a year after a massacre at a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, is suspected to have been carried out by a Palestinian with an Israeli residence permit who had been employed at a restaurant in the area.

The suspected assailant, a 36-year-old father of five from the West Bank village of Dura, near Hebron, has no previous criminal or security record, Hebrew media reports. The man, who worked at the Samarkand restaurant in southern Tel Aviv, was subdued by a civilian following the attack, and was later arrested by police.

Two Israelis were killed and at least two others wounded in the stabbing next to the parking lot of the Panorama office building, as afternoon prayers were taking place, according to reports from the scene.

One victim was declared dead at the scene and a second died after being rushed to a hospital with serious injuries.

One more person suffered moderate injuries but was in stable condition, according to officials.

The Palestinian Hamas group said it welcomed the attack. “We welcome the heroic operation in Tel Aviv that killed two people,” read a tweet on the Gaza-based group’s official account read. “We call on the Palestinians to continue such activities.”