Naftali Bennett announced strong security measures following the terrorist attack in which two policemen were killed

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Monday a series of new security measures following yesterday's attack in the city of Hadera, the second in a week and which left a balance of two Israeli policemen killed and was claimed by the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS).

Benet today instructed expanding the number of soldiers and reservists carrying weapons, increasing the following of social media speeches to identify potential attackers, and use judicial, economic, digital and intelligence resources to prevent further incidents and to stop those who instigate or help perpetrate them, according to a statement from his office.

Among the new measures, the order to implement the regime of administrative detention stands out. In addition, the prime minister instructed the strengthening of the various security forces, especially in the hottest spots and at least until the celebration of Independence Day in early May.

“Prime Minister Bennett emphasized that this was a new situation that requires the security establishment to prepare and adapt to the circumstances in which extremist segments of the Arab sector, guided by an extreme Islamist ideology, engage in terrorism and harm human lives,” said a spokesman for the president.

These measures were announced following a meeting between Benet and leaders of the Army, the Police, the Intelligence Services and the Ministries of Defense and Internal Security, which took place virtually as the prime minister was confirmed this morning as positive for covid-19.

The meeting came hours after the Islamic State claimed not only last night's attack, perpetrated by two Arab citizens of Israel, but also a series of stabbings last Monday. In that incident, an Israeli citizen of Bedouin origin killed four civilians in the southern city of Beersheva.

On the other hand, hundreds of people attended the funerals of the two dead 19-year-old police officers on Monday.

At the military cemetery in Netanya, about 30 kilometers north of Tel Aviv, a crowd attended the funeral of Shirel Aboukrat, a Franco-Israeli woman.

The coffin of the young woman, born in Marseille (southern France), was covered by an Israeli flag, AFP journalists noted.

In Kisra Sumei, a Druze city in northern Galilee, some 500 people also attended the funeral of Yezen Falah, the other dead policeman, said an AFP journalist.

“There is no justification for terrorist acts. Violent extremism must be condemned by all,” Tor Wennesland, the UN emissary to the Middle East, said in a tweet on Monday.

Five suspects were arrested in Israel after the attack, police said Monday.

Israeli police announced that they had carried out searches in the Arab city of Umm el Fahm, 20 km from Hadera, where the attack took place.

“Following these searches, the security forces arrested three inhabitants suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization. Two other suspects were arrested elsewhere,” the police said in a statement.

ISIS indicated in a statement that two of its militants were the perpetrators of the shooting.

According to the intelligence group SITE, this is the first time since 2017 that ISIS has claimed an attack inside Israel.

The aggressors, identified by Israel as Israeli Arabs and local ISIS agents, were killed by nearby police officers.

The attack occurred during a summit held in Israel, between Sunday and Monday, with the heads of diplomacy from the United States, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in a city in the Negev desert in the south.

Four people were killed last Tuesday in another attack, in that case with a knife and a kamikaze vehicle, in the main city of the Negev desert.

The attacker was identified by the authorities as Mohammed Abu Al Kiyan, a teacher in the Bedouin city of Hura, who had already been sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison for planning to travel to Syria to fight alongside the jihadist group Islamic State and for making apology for it.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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