Six Israelis were wounded when a terrorist opened fire outside a shopping mall in the West Bank city of Ma’ale Adumim on Tuesday. Terrorist group Hamas, celebrated the attack as “heroic and daring”. Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad also “commend[ed] the heroic commando operation that was carried out by a heroic Palestinian resistance fighter”.
The victims were transferred to hospital for treatment of their wounds, including a man in his 40s in a serious condition. The youngest victim is believed to be a 14-year-old boy.
The terrorist, identified as 20-year-old Mohannad Muhammad Suleiman al-Mazra’a, from the nearby West Bank town of al-Azariya, worked at a local community center in Ma’ale Adumim. He used a handgun to carry out the attack and carried a bag containing additional ammunition. He also wore a yellow vest whilst carrying out the assault, posing as a member of staff at the mall.
An off-duty border police officer, getting a haircut at the time, neutralised the attacker after shots were fired in his direction.
Al-Mazra’a, not affiliated to any faction, reportedly recorded a 95-second voice note before carrying out the attack, constituting a will. “In the name of Allah”, he says, “it won’t matter” if the Israelis take his body. He asked for no funeral to be held for him and an unmarked gravestone.
Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi, claimed the attack was in response to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av last Thursday, calling it “a punch to the face of Ben-Gvir and his invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” In a statement, Mardawi said that “the protectors of Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa always have their finger on the trigger, and will not miss an opportunity to pounce on the enemy”.
In a separate incident the same day, the IDF reported that a Palestinian tried to stab two soldiers at the Eshtamoa intersection in the southern West Bank. The attacker was shot.
