Israel: Two killed in stabbing attack outside Tel Aviv synagogue

A Palestinian man has allegedly stabbed to death two Israelis and wounded another in a Tel Aviv office building. The assailant, a 24-year-old Palestinian from south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, was lightly wounded and is in police custody.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker targeted worshipers who gathered for afternoon prayers in a shop that sells Jewish religious items in the building in southern Tel Aviv. A nearby elementary school delayed afternoon release of pupils until it got the all-clear from police.

The stabbing is the latest episode in two months of renewed violence that left 16 Israelis and at least 82 Palestinians dead. It took place after Israel banned the Islamic Movement, a Muslim advocacy group, for inciting violence at al-Aqsa Mosque as well as in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Court orders were issued to shut down 17 non-profit organisations and movements operated by the group, while bank accounts of the movement and all organisations it operates have been frozen. Islamic Movement leader Raed Salah and his deputy Kamal Khatib were held overnight on Monday 16 November by police in Haifa.

The group pledged revenge and to defend Palestinian access to al-Aqsa Mosque with "blood and soul".