Israel stepping up security measures after Tel Aviv attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered an immediate call-up of Border Police reserves officers, in a major step that likely reflects fears of a further escalation following two deadly terror attacks in a single day, and amid high tensions nationwide after a night of retaliatory airstrikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip and rare artillery fire into Lebanon, Report informs referring to The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu announced the call-up as he huddled with security officials following the car-ramming attack at Tel Aviv’s seaside Charles Clore park on April 7 evening, in which an Italian tourist was killed and seven others were wounded when a 45-year-old Arab-Israeli from Kafr Qassem ran his vehicle at high speed into a group of people walking on the promenade.

Earlier on April 7, two Israeli sisters, British nationals, were killed and their mother was critically hurt in a terror shooting attack in the West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces launched a manhunt for the gunmen and other suspects who fled the scene.

The Israel Police said in a statement that four Border Police reserves units will be mobilized starting on April 9, following orders from the Defense Ministry and the National Security Ministry. They will join six Border Police reserve units already operating in and around Jerusalem, and in the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Lod in central Israel, as authorities increased its police preparedness ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, usually a period of high tensions between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Netanyahu said he was calling up all reserve forces in Israel’s Border Police “to confront the terror attacks.”