Israel has suspended as many as 83,000 special permits for Palestinians in West Bank to visit relatives in the country during Ramadan, Israeli defence body COGAT on Thursday. This comes after two Palestinians opened fire and killed four Israelis in Tel Aviv the previous evening, AFP reported.
Israel considers the special permits for Ramadan a goodwill gesture towards Palestinians. The permits for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including those to visit relatives in Israel, travel abroad and offer prayers at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, were also suspended, COGAT said. In addition to these, the military has frozen Israeli work permits for 204 relatives of the attackers and restricting entry into and exit from Yatta village in West Bank, the attackers’ home village.
Four Israelis were killed and nine others wounded after two Palestinians opened fire near popular Sarona market in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday night. Additional police units have been deployed, especially around the city’s central bus station and train stations, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
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