An Italian tourist was killed and seven others were injured in a car-ramming attack that took place on Friday night in Tel Aviv.
Police in Tel Aviv said a man drove a white Kia car alongside the beachside walk, hitting several pedestrians before overturning. The driver was killed by a police officer.
The victim was identified by the Italian government as Alessandro Parini. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “deep sorrow” and “solidarity to the victim’s family, to the injured, and solidarity with the State of Israel for the cowardly attack that hit him,” her office said in a note late Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene of the attack, and ordered the mobilization of police and army reservists to counter terrorism, his office said in a statement.
The attack took place hours after Israel carried out air strikes in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on targets belonging to militant group Hamas. The strikes were in response to rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday, the Israeli government said, blaming the rockets on Hamas.
Tensions are high in Israel following two nights of Israeli police raids on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site.
