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Fireworks in Hebron and Gaza After Four Israelis Killed in Terror Attack

by TheTower.org Staff |

Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and eastern Jerusalem celebrated news of a terrorist attack that left four people dead and 16 others wounded in a Tel Aviv market on Wednesday.

Palestinian residents of Hebron in the West Bank set off fireworks in honor of the killings, local media reported.

The two Palestinians who carried out the shooting are cousins from Hebron.

Fireworks were also launched in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas-affiliated media. The Gaza-based Shehab News Agency reported that Palestinians in the Strip handed out sweets after receiving news of the attack.

Dozens of Palestinians also gathered near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City to sing and cheer for the gunmen, the Jerusalem Post reported. Many young men took to the streets in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, distributing candies to passing drivers, while dozens marched near Bethlehem in honor of the attack. Revelers in the West Bank were singing, chanting, and waving flags, Reuters reported.

Hashtags including “#Carlo Bullet,” referring to the gun used by the terrorists, as well as “#We broke the fast killing them,” referring to the fact that the attack took place during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, also went viral on Palestinian social media.

“Glory and salutations to the Hebronites,” tweeted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh from Gaza shortly after the attack, ending his praises with a victory sign. In a second tweet, he called one of the shooters a “hero.”

The attack in Sarona market, across the street from the Israeli Defense Ministry headquarters, is the first in Tel Aviv since Israeli Arab Nashat Milhem opened fire on a bar in Dizengoff Street on New Year’s Day, killing three people. The Palestinian Authority joined the terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in honoring Milhem after he was killed in a shootout with police, saying he was “one of the most precious martyrs whose name has been inscribed with his pure blood that watered the soil of our free land.” Fatah, the political party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, similarly hailed the man, writing on its Facebook page, “may Allah receive you in Heaven.”

Leading Palestinian officials, including Abbas, have been accused of inciting violence against Israelis.

Thousands of mourners at the January funeral of a Palestinian Authority police officer who shot and wounded three IDF soldiers chanted “death to Israel” and called for killing hundreds of Israelis. “It is time for the machine gun, to shoot 500 people,” a man leading the funeral procession shouted into a megaphone. “Muhammad’s army will return.”

A poll conducted over the first three months of 2016 found that over 60 percent of Palestinians approve of “armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.”

[Photo: Moti Karelitz/Flash90]

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