Seven killed in shooting attack in Jaffa, central Israel, 16 wounded

The scene of the shooting attack in Jaffa on 1 October 2024

Josh Breiner, Bar Peleg and Ido Efrati report in Haaretz on 2 October 2024:

Seven people were killed and 16 others were wounded in a shooting attack in the city of Jaffa in central Israel on Tuesday, emergency services reported.

The attack occurred about 40 minutes before rocket sirens were activated in Jaffa due to the missile barrage from Iran Tuesday night.

The victims of the attack were identified as 24-year-old resident of Bat Yam Revital Bronstein; 30-year-old Lod resident Shachar Goldman; 33-year-old Tel Aviv resident Inbar Segev-Vigder; Nadia Sokolenco, a 40-year-old Jaffa resident; Yunas Karussis, a 26-year-old student from Jerusalem who was born to Greek parents; and Ilia Nozadze, a 42-year-old citizen of Georgia. One other person was killed in the attack.

Another 16 people were wounded to varying degrees of severity in the shooting attack, including a female soldier who was seriously wounded. Six of those wounded are in serious condition, four are in moderate condition, and two were lightly wounded.

Shachar Goldman, who was a dancer, is survived by her husband Tai, her parents and three sisters. People paid tribute to the 33-year-old Goldman’s memory at the Havana Music Club in Tel Aviv and told Haaretz that she had “a captivating smile and great energy,” and that she “touched many lives.”

She studied at the Ramle Lod high school and was a counselor at the Working and Studying youth movement. Her friends in the youth group said that she “was the kind of person that every member wanted by their side. Full of energy, maturity and wisdom, a beautiful graduate with a winning smile and mesmerizing laugh.”

Inbar Segev-Vigder, 24, was the owner of a fitness and Pilates studio and worked as a coach at a CrossFit gym in Tel Aviv. A graduate of the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sportse, Segev-Vigder is survived by her husband Ya’ari and their nine-month-old son.

Her husband said in an interview with national broadcaster Kan on Wednesday that Segev-Vigder was carrying their son when the attack happened.  “Our miracle is that our son came out of it unharmed, really without a scratch. He was covered with blood a bit, but otherwise unhurt,” he said.  She was laid to rest at the Givat Tzion cemetery in Ashkelon on Wednesday.

Civilians near the scene of the shooting attack in Jaffa, 1 October 2024

Nadia Sokolenco, 40, immigrated to Israel from Moldova 18 years ago. She is survived by her husband and 6-year-old daughter, as well as her mother, who resides in Moldova, and a sister who lives in Denmark.  Nadia worked as an office manager at a high-tech firm, previously working as a stylist.  Haaretz reporter Rafaella Goichman, a close friend of Sokolenco, described her as “the embodiment of love of life, light and cosmic optimism.” “You walked this earth, and everywhere you went you spread smiles, witty jokes, rolling laughter and the most beautiful face I’ve ever known,” Goichman added.

Revital Bronstein, 24, was earning a master’s degree in computer science at the Givat Washington Educational Campus. Before that, she attended an agricultural school, where she won awards related to computing and artificial intelligence. She was also an artist who created comics.  She is survived by her mother, Liora, and her father, Alex, and was laid to rest at the Holon and Bat Yam cemetery on Wednesday.  Bidding farewell to her daughter, Liora said, “When I gave birth to her, she was a ray of sunshine, I was happy for 24 years … I loved her very much. A smart, beautiful and kind-hearted girl. I have no words, I don’t know what I would do without her, without the best girl in the world. Thank you so much, Revital, for being with us for 24 years.”  A teacher from her school eulogized her: “I received this girl as a gift. I would describe Reivtal in one word: special. She was special in everything she did.”

Ilia Nozadze, a 42-year-old Georgian citizen who worked at a car wash, was married and had two children, aged 17 and 12. According to the Georgian-language outlet Radio Tavisupleba, Ilia Nozadze came to Israel five years ago to support his family. He is originally from the village of Kindzati in central Georgia, where his wife, children, and mother still live. In Israel, he lived with his aunt, Dali Nozadze.  Dali shared with RFL that Ilia was the sole breadwinner for his family.  “He didn’t save even 10 Georgian Laris; he sent everything back to Georgia. He hoped to save enough to buy a minibus, return home, and start a small business,” she explained. She also mentioned that since the war began, Ilia had been living in constant fear. “Whenever the sirens went off, he would call me immediately to make sure I had made it to the shelter.”  On the day of the attack, Dali tried calling Ilia during the sirens, but his phone went unanswered. “One of his friends called me and asked, ‘We’re
looking for Ilia – hasn’t he shown up?’ I immediately panicked, thinking that maybe a bomb had fallen, or some shrapnel, or there had been an accident. Later, we were told what had happened.”  The Georgian Foreign Ministry said that it is in contact with the Israeli authorities to transfer his body for burial in his home country.

Yona Ionas Karussis was a 26-year-old Greek and Israeli citizen originally from Thessaloniki, who lived in Jerusalem and studied architecture in Tel Aviv. He served in the military police during his army service, and is survived by his parents Domitri Karussis and Orania Varka, both doctors who immigrated to Israel and currently work in hospitals in Israel.  According to police, one of the assailants was armed with a an M-16 rifle and the other with a knife, and they attacked light rail passengers and passers-by near a station on Jaffa’s Jerusalem Boulevard.

Police say that the two assailants, later identified as Muhammad Khalef Saher Rajab and Hassan Muhammad Hassan Tamimi, were both in their 20s from the city of Hebron in the West Bank. They did not have a permit to be in Israel. At least one of them was shot dead by a passerby and a municipal security guard.

Tel Aviv district commander Haim Sargrof said that police ruled out that there were additional assailants after large police and IDF forces conducted extensive searches in the area.

A senior police officer said that footage from security cameras in the area showed that the assailants came out of a nearby mosque, attacked passers-by on Jerusalem Boulevard and killed two of them. Afterward, at least one of them boarded the light rail car, killed four passengers and disembarked. According to police, the two were finally shot in the street.

Large police forces and the IDF counterterrorism unit conducted searches in the area, including a raid on the mosque from which the assailants emerged. Several individuals present were detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack.

In response to the attack, the IDF imposed a blockade on Hebron, the hometown of the attackers, which has not yet been lifted. IDF and Shin Bet security service forces arrested several Palestinians overnight into Wednesday on the suspicion that they had helped the assailants purchase weapons and enter Israel. The suspects were transferred to the Shin Bet for investigation.

According to the security forces, the two terrorists had not been arrested before, but one of them was known to police for having been involved in disturbances to public order in the past.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said after arriving at the scene of the attack that, “If it turns out there is a connection to the mosque [from which the attackers emerged], the message is clear – it should be shut down and demolished.” He added, “We need to investigate; we’re not rushing to conclusions.”

Security sources said that so far, there have been no signs indicating any connection between the mosque’s people and the attack. In footage shared on social media from inside the mosque, the terrorists can be heard entering the building and threatening the worshippers not to leave, telling them that “whoever leaves is responsible for his own fate.”

According to testimonies of those present at the scene, the terrorists even threatened the worshippers and the imam with their weapons. All the worshippers who were detained in the mosque on Tuesday were released during the night. Several Palestinians who were found there without a permit to be in Israel were also arrested, but are not suspected of being involved in the attack.

One eyewitness told Haaretz that they were in class after prayers at the mosque when an armed man entered the building. “We did not see him when he entered. He told us to close the door and not to leave the mosque, and that if anyone came out, something bad would happen to them.”

According to him, “At first we thought it was a settling of accounts, not an attack. Our sheikh and other worshippers called the police, and they took a few minutes to arrive. The police entered the mosque directly, took us onto the floor, and did not allow us to move. We were on the floor for half an hour and they shouted at us, until they released us.”

An eyewitness who was at the scene of the attack said: “I saw a terrorist shoot a girl who was on the floor and another girl, then I saw the terrorist shoot a man on a bicycle who fell to the floor, but I don’t think he wasn’t hurt. At that moment, a civilian arrived with a gun and shot the terrorist.”

Another eyewitness who was at a synagogue at the time of the attack said that he heard shots from an automatic weapon. “Among the worshippers were medics who volunteer at the MDA. We treated a man who was wounded in the synagogue and then ran to the street to help others who were wounded,” he said.

Another eyewitness who spoke to Haaretz said that he heard gunshots when he was in a store near the scene of the attack, and went out into the street to help administer first aid. “There was an injured girl on the road, there were already several people taking care of her, and then there were more shots from nearby,” he said. “We dragged the injured woman to a nearby restaurant’s kitchen and blocked the door with a heavy object. I put a tourniquet on her.”

He added that after about 15 minutes, security forces arrived in large numbers and began knocking on the door, and that the injured woman was conscious when she was taken to receive further treatment.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, he would demand that the terrorists’ family members be deported “to Gaza tonight” and that their homes be demolished. “Without the High Court of Justice and without [non-governmental organization] B’Tselem,” he added.

As alarms sounded during the missile barrage from Iran, many police officers sought shelter in nearby buildings, leading to a suspension of the searches in the area. Police Commissioner Danny Levy, who had arrived at the scene, also entered a building and continued commanding the forces from inside until the alarms ceased.

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