The Israel Defense Forces is deploying soldiers to Tel Aviv to reinforce the police presence there amid a surge in terrorism.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant decided on the move following security assessments, the military said Monday.
It comes after an Italian tourist was killed and seven other foreigners were wounded on Friday night in a car-ramming attack in central Tel Aviv. The terrorist, identified as Arab Israeli Yousef Abu Jaber, 45, from Kafr Qasim, 12 miles east of Tel Aviv, drove his vehicle into a crowd on a busy seaside promenade in the heart of the coastal city.
The fatality was identified as 35-year-old Alessandro Parini from Rome.
בהתאם להנחיית שר הביטחון ולהערכת המצב בצה"ל, בתיאום עם משטרת ישראל, צה"ל יתגבר במרחב מחוז תל אביב, החל ממחר, בהיקף של פלוגת הכשרה
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 9, 2023
Earlier Friday, Maia Dee, 20, and Rina Dee, 15, were murdered in a Palestinian terror attack in the Jordan Valley.
The attack, which also critically wounded the sisters’ mother, Lucy, took place Friday on the Route 57 highway near the Hamra Junction. According to a military probe, terrorists opened fire on the Dees’ passing vehicle, causing it to crash into the road’s shoulder. The terrorists then approached the car and riddled it with nearly two dozen bullets.
The IDF move also comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon and Syria.
Terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired 44 projectiles, including rockets and anti-aircraft missiles, towards southern Israel overnight Thursday. Israel Air Force jets responded by hitting more than 10 Hamas targets in the Palestinian enclave, including weapons manufacturing sites and attack tunnels.
The military also struck Hamas assets in southern Lebanon after the Palestinian terrorist group fired 34 rockets from the country towards northern Israel on Thursday.
On Sunday, the IDF struck targets in Syria in response to six rockets fired towards the Golan Heights. Among the targets of the Israeli strikes were a military compound of the elite 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Armed Forces, military radar systems and artillery posts, according to the IDF.
