Gunmen kill at least 6 in Tel Aviv shortly before air raid sirens sound

At least six people were killed and nine wounded on Tuesday when two gunmen got off a tram in Tel Aviv and opened fire on passers-by, before themselves being shot dead by security forces and an armed civilian, Israeli police said.

Police labeled the incident a terrorist attack but there was no immediate claim of responsibility from armed Palestinian factions or other militant groups. Shortly after the attacks, air raid sirens sounded as Iran launched missiles toward Israel.

Israel has been on high alert for months as the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary and the escalating conflict in Lebanon appeared set to draw in Iran.

Footage broadcast by Israeli television channels showed the two gunmen getting off the train and opening fire on people on the platform. As well as the six dead, at least nine people were wounded with varying degrees of injuries, police said.

Medics and paramedics provided on-site treatment to a number of wounded people with varying degrees of injuries, including some who were unconscious, the MDA ambulance service said.

Only minutes after the attack, warning sirens sent Israelis rushing to air raid shelters as Iran fired a barrage of missiles to avenge the killing by Israel of some prominent leaders of its so-called Axis of Resistance alliance.

Israel’s hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has responsibility for significant policy areas concerning the occupied West Bank, said the attackers came from the West Bank city of Hebron.

In a statement on the social media platform X, he said he would demand in cabinet that members of the suspects’ families be deported to Gaza and their homes destroyed.

The war in Gaza began almost a year ago when Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s campaign has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and also laid waste to the enclave.

Israel is also fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon to stop rocket attacks into Israel’s north, in the process killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week in an airstrike in Beirut.