Tel Aviv shooter’s dad says son not linked to terror groups
Gunman's uncle said to be serving time in Israeli prison for deadly attack in the West Bank in 2002
The father of one of the two Palestinians who carried out a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv said Thursday he didn’t expect his son to be involved in terror as he had no connection to terror organizations.
The gunmen opened fire the night before at the upscale Sarona Market shopping complex in central Tel Aviv, killing four people and injuring 16.
Hamas said the two gunmen, whose identities were placed under gag order by Israeli police Thursday morning, were members of the group. The two were caught after fleeing the scene, one having first been shot by a security guard and seriously wounded.
Speaking to Reuters, the father of the gunman said his son had spent time abroad and only recently returned to the West Bank.
“We didn’t expect this,” the father said. “My son was in Jordan for the past four years. He arrived here five months ago. He has no political tendencies.”
In a video interview with Reuters, the father said he was astonished upon hearing of the attack.
“To be honest I was really surprised, I didn’t expect this of him, I don’t know what pushed him to do this, who organized this with him, I have no idea,” he said. “The boy is a worker, he does not have any political leanings. I don’t know, I was surprised by the news, just like everyone else.”
The two gunmen hailed from the southern West Bank town of Yatta and were in Israel illegally. On Wednesday night, IDF soldiers placed a closure on the town and raided the home of one of the terrorists.
According to the Hebrew-language news site Ynet, the terrorists’ uncle was a member of the Tanzim — the military wing of the Fatah party — and took part in a terror attack in the southern Hebron Hills in 2002 that killed four Israelis. His cell planned another attack, but was arrested.
The uncle is still held in prison in Israel, and his home was demolished as punishment for his attack. Another member of the terrorists’ family is also imprisoned in Israel, the report said.
Since October 2015, 33 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed and hundreds more injured in a spate of attacks, though the violence had dramatically waned of late. Some 200 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while carrying out attacks and the rest in clashes with troops, Israeli officials say.