Deaths in mass shooting spree in central Israel

A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in a crowded city in central Israel, gunning down victims as he killed at least five people in the second mass shooting rampage this week. The shooter was killed by police. 

Residents of the ultra-orthodox town of Bnei Brak and the neighbouring town of Ramat Gan reported late on Tuesday that a man had driven around and opened fire at passers-by, and Israeli police later said that security forces killed the assailant. 

"We, unfortunately, have to note that five people have died," said Eli Bin, the head of the Magen David Adom emergency responders, revising up a death toll of two from shootings in two locations in Bnei Brak.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads an ideologically disparate coalition government ranging from Jewish nationalists to Arabs, said the country was "facing a wave of murderous" terrorism.  

Police were deployed in large numbers in Bnei Brak late in the evening, AFP news agency journalists at the scene said. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shootings. 

Israeli authorities have not yet determined whether the string of attacks was organised or whether the attackers acted individually. The Israeli military announced it would be deploying additional troops to the occupied West Bank, and the police chief raised the national readiness level to its highest.

READ MORE: Several dead in central Israel shooting spree

Palestine condemns attacks

Palestine's President Mahmud Abbas issued a condemnation of the attacks after Israeli media referred to an attacker from the occupied West Bank.

"The killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians will only lead to further deterioration of the situation," Abbas said in a statement carried out by the Wafa news agency.

Daesh attacks

The attacks come after a shooting on Sunday that killed two Israeli police officers in the northern city of Hadera.

Sunday's attack was later claimed by Daesh, in its first claim of an attack on Israeli territory since 2017.

Israeli police had said that the two perpetrators of the Sunday attack were killed at the scene.

Last week, a convicted Daesh sympathiser killed four Israelis in a stabbing and car-ramming spree in the southern city of Beersheba.

The attacks have raised concerns that there could be further violence.

READ MORE: Deaths, injuries in stabbing, car-ramming in southern Israel