Police say Arab citizen of Israel opened fire in Beersheba bus station and soldier was killed, while innocent Eritrean was shot by guard and beaten by bystanders

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

One Israeli has been killed and 10 injured after an assailant armed with a gun and a knife opened fire in a bus station.

The attacker was shot and killed in the incident on Sunday evening, as was an innocent Eritrean asylum seeker shot by a security guard and beaten by bystanders.

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The attack in the southern city of Beersheba was the most serious in several weeks of escalating violence and came despite efforts by Israel to further tighten security around the country, which has done little to diminish the frequency of violence.

The latest incident came as the US secretary of state, John Kerry, was due to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming days as part of efforts to lower the temperature.

Reports in the Israeli media, however, suggested that the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu – due to meet Kerry in Germany – would have no concessions to offer the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

In Sunday night’s attack, police said the assailant – identified as Mohannad al-Okbi, an Arab citizen of Israel from the Bedouin town of Hura – entered the central bus station in Beersheba and began shooting and stabbing people.

They said an Israeli soldier was killed, five police were lightly wounded and five civilians were wounded to varying degrees.

Yoram Halevy, a police commander in southern Israel, told reporters that in addition to the knife and gun he entered with, the attacker also snatched a weapon from the soldier he killed

The attacker was shot and killed.

Following the initial gunfire, a security guard shot an asylum seeker. Video footage showed him being attacked and kicked by an angry mob who wrongly believed he was an accomplice. In the footage people are seen kicking him, throwing a bench at him and pinning him to the ground with a chair. He later died of his injuries.

“I saw people gathering around him,” a man identified as Dudu told Army Radio. “I understood from the people around him he was a terrorist. If I had known I would have helped him. In a moment of fear and pressure you do things you don’t understand.

“All the people gathering around the man attacked him. Nobody was helping him. People just were making sure he doesn’t move. There is no human being who did not kick or beat him. Everyone took part. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about what happened and I feel sick about myself.”



The bus station attack was one of the most serious incidents amid near-daily bouts of violence which have hit Israel and the Palestinian territories over the past month. After the attack, a crowd of Israelis gathered outside the bus station and chanted “death to Arabs”.



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The unrest erupted in Jerusalem a month ago over tensions surrounding a holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims. It soon spread to the Arab neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem and then to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel.

Israel has struggled to contain near-daily attacks by Palestinian assailants.

Authorities have blocked roads and placed checkpoints at the entrances of Palestinian neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem. Other security measures include ID checks and requiring some Palestinian residents to lift their shirts and roll up trouser legs as they exit their neighbourhood, to prove they are not carrying knives. Soldiers have been deployed in Jerusalem and cities across Israel.

On Sunday, Israeli police erected a barrier to separate the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv from the adjacent Palestinian neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber as part of the heightened security. A number of attackers have come from Jabel Mukaber.



