Seventh fatality of Jaffa terror shooting named

Victor Shimshon Green, 33, a homeless man who lived in the Gagon shelter in Jaffa, was named on Sunday as the seventh fatality of Tuesday’s terrorist shooting in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Green’s picture has not been published.

The six victims previously named were Revital Bronstein, 24, Jonas Chrosis, 26, Shahar Goldman, 30, Inbar Segev Vigdar, 33, Nadia Sokolenco, 40, and Ilia Nozadze, 42.

Police identified the terrorists as 19-year-old Mohammad Mask, who was killed at the scene, and 25-year-old Ahmad Himoni, who was severely wounded.

The terrorists, residents of Hebron in Judea, reportedly crossed Israel’s pre-1967 lines in the Jerusalem area. They were neutralized at the scene by police officers, municipal security guards and armed civilians.

A police officer on the scene said the two gunmen exited a light rail train car and opened fire on people waiting at a station on Jerusalem Boulevard.

Terrorists crossed through gap in security barrier

The two terrorists from Hebron crossed into pre-1967 Israel at a breach in the Judea and Samaria security fence in the Jerusalem area, Israel’s Army Radio reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the conditions along the Seam Line have deteriorated to the level they were before the wave of terrorist attacks in 2022 and 2023, with hundreds of gaps along the entire fence and thousands of Palestinians crossing illegally every day.

There is no monitoring, surveillance or control, military correspondent Doron Kadosh reported.

The defense establishment estimates that there are around 40,000 illegal infiltrators inside Green Line Israel and is warning that the Jaffa attack could be only the beginning unless the issue is addressed.

For example, at one known illegal crossing point in the Jerusalem area, 1,100 Arabs attempted to cross in September alone, with only around 190 caught and the rest entering Israel.

Recently, another terrorist from the Hebron area planning a shooting attack was caught inside pre-1967 Israel. He was found inside a vehicle transporting illegal entrants on Route 6.

“We are helpless against the phenomenon of illegal entrants, which has claimed and will continue to claim lives in Israel,” Kadosh quotes security officials as saying.

The defense establishment is telling the political leadership in Jerusalem to make a decision on the entry of Palestinian workers from Judea and Samaria, calling the current situation untenable.

“There are two options: Either regulate the entry of workers, as the defense establishment recommends, with strict monitoring and checks of those entering, tracking of employers and ensuring the workers’ return to the West Bank; or decide to seal the breaches in the fence and separate the Israeli and Palestinian economies,” Kadosh wrote.