Israel freezes all travel for Palestinians from Gaza and West Bank in wake of Tel Aviv attack

Israel has widened travel restrictions on Palestinians, preventing all movement from the West Bank and Gaza, in the wake of an attack by Palestinian gunmen on a Tel Aviv café which left four dead.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military told AFP the decision had been made as part of an "ongoing situation assessment". She added the restrictions would only be lifted in medical and humanitarian cases. The directive will remain in force until midnight on Sunday, 12 June.

The travel restrictions follow an announcement by COGAT, a branch of the Israeli military, that it was revoking all travel permits for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, preventing 83,000 from travelling to see family or go abroad during Ramadan.

Palestinians will be prevented from travelling through Tel Aviv Airport and barred from attending Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem. Israeli authorities have pulled work permits for 204 of the gunmen's relatives, and has blocked Palestinians from leaving and entering the West Bank village of Yatta, the attackers' home.

Also in response to the slayings in Tel Aviv, one of the deadliest attacks in Israel against civilians following an eight-month surge in violence, the Israeli army has deployed two additional battalions to the West Bank.

Four people were killed and 16 others injured when two gunmen, both thought to be Palestinians according to AP, opened fire at a packed café in Tel Aviv's Sarona market. The Israelis killed in the attacks have been, identified as Ido Ben Aryeh, 42, Ilana Nave, 39, Michael Feige, 58, and Mila Mishayev, 32.

Both the attackers – Khaled Mohammad Makhamrah, 22, and his cousin Mohamad Ahmad Makhamrah, 21 – have been detained by the Israeli security forces.

The suspension of travel from the West Bank and Gaza follows promises from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Israel Defense Force would take "decisive" action in the aftermath of the killings.

Over the past eight months, Palestinians have carried out dozens of attacks that have killed 32 Israelis and two Americans. On 1 January, an Arab Israeli killed three people in Tel Aviv and in March a Palestinian went on a stabbing spree, killing an American and wounding seven others.

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