Two East Jerusalem residents caught in Tel Aviv terror manhunt
Police shut traffic along main highway and in Givatayim suburb after alert said 2 were involved in planning terror attack
Two Palestinians from East Jerusalem were arrested following a massive manhunt for suspected terrorists in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., police shut down multiple streets in the city and the neighboring suburb of Givatayim as they searched for a suspicious vehicle reported a short time earlier on Givatayim’s Katznelson Boulevard.
Coupled with intelligence reports, Dan District police concluded the vehicle, a blue Mitsubishi, may have been part of an attempted terror attack.
Dozens of police cruisers and at least one helicopter surrounded and searched the area.
When they learned of the manhunt, the suspects reportedly left their vehicle and attempted to flee the police search on foot. They were apprehended shortly after 11:30 a.m., and were handed over to the Shin Bet for investigation.
The manhunt briefly closed the westward lane of the Shalom Junction leading into Givatayim, but not the north-south Ayalon highway lanes at the intersection.
[mappress mapid=”5319″]
Tel Aviv’s Mozes Bridge and parts of Begin Boulevard were also briefly closed to traffic, along with other parts of central Tel Aviv, in an effort to prevent the suspects from escaping, while police searches extended as far east as the Givatayim Mall.
Eyewitnesses said police in the area around several Givatayim office buildings were searching with guns drawn.
There was no immediate word on the precise location in which the suspects were caught, their identities or the exact nature of the suspicions against them.
In response to the terror scare Thursday, the Givatayim municipality announced that city employees would be stationed at the entrances to schools and kindergartens beginning Sunday, until a security service could be hired to cover the city’s educational institutions.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.