Israeli police searching for gunman who killed two in Tel Aviv

Two people were killed and at least seven wounded after a man opened fire at a crowded bar in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli police.

Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv told CNN that two people were dead, two were badly injured and one person was lightly wounded.

Israeli police say a gunman opened fire at a bar in central Tel Aviv, wounding several people. However, police said the motive of the shooter was still unknown.

What authorities called “units specializing in locating and neutralizing perpetrators” were on the scene, Israeli police said Saturday in a statement.

The shooting left police scouring about a 2-mile area of the city along the Mediterranean Sea, with roadblocks also set up in hopes of snaring the assailant, Israeli national police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. They warned Israelis to stay away from the central Tel Aviv neighborhood as officers were out in force, combing the nearby buildings and streets for the shooter.

Israeli media are reporting that the attacker has been identified as an Israeli Arab from northern Israel.

Members of his family told media Melhem had been suffering mental issues, and had been imprisoned for attacking an Israeli soldier in what he said was an attempt at revenge over the death of a relative shot by police in 2006. “Large-scale police forces are conducting searches for him”.

On Friday night, Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Israel’s Channel 2 that the motive behind the attack is still unclear.

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As of 23 December, at least 21 Israelis had been killed in the recent violence, majority in stabbings and shooting attacks by Palestinians.

“I am not willing to accept two states within Israel, a state of law for most of its citizens and a state within a state for some of its citizens”.

Israel has seen a wave of Palestinian street attacks since October, fuelled in part by Muslim anger over stepped-up Jewish visits to Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque complex, also sacred to Jews, as well as the lack of any progress in peace talks.

However, there has been no claim by Palestinian armed factions for this attack.