Israel beefs up troops in West Bank after Tel Aviv shooting
JERUSALEM — Israel imposed travel restrictions Thursday on tens of thousands of Palestinians and sent hundreds of additional troops into the West Bank in response to a deadly shooting at a popular Tel Aviv tourist spot.
A relatively muted response by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet reflected the lack of options that Israel seems to have as it grapples with a nine-month wave of violence.
Police identified the victims as Michael Feige, a 58-year-old sociologist and anthropologist at Ben-Gurion University, and Ido Ben Ari, a 42-year-old veteran of an elite army unit who was an executive at the Coca-Cola Co.'s Israel branch.
The Palestinians say the fighting stems from frustration over nearly 50 years of Israeli military occupation.
In Yatta, Ahmad Mussa Mahmara, the father of one of the attackers, said his son has two uncles serving life sentences in an Israeli prison.