A week-long manhunt that has gripped Israel since a fatal attack on a Tel Aviv bar has ended after the suspect was shot dead outside a mosque where he was hiding in his home town.
Hundreds of police had been seeking Nashat Melhem, an Israeli-Arab resident of Wadi Ara, in a controversial and high-profile search.
The 29-year-old was wanted for a gun attack on a bar on New Year’s Day that killed Alon Bakal, 26, and Shimon Ruimi, 30, and injured seven. During his escape Melhem allegedly murdered an Arab taxi driver who had stopped to pick him up.
Photographs showed Melhem’s body, dressed in black tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt, lying next to a Falcon sub-machine gun, the same weapon allegedly used in the Tel Aviv attack.
The hunt for Melhem has dominated the news in Israel for days, with hourly updates.
It is unclear what Melhem’s motives were for the shooting despite suspicions it was linked to recent violence which has seen more than three months of near-daily Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Unconfirmed reports in the Israeli media after his death suggested Melhem may have been inspired by Islamic State. He had, however, previously been jailed for assaulting an Israeli soldier and trying to snatch his gun, in revenge for the death of his cousin by police fire.
Melhem – who was identified as the Tel Aviv gunman by relatives from CCTV footage in the immediate aftermath of the attack – was shot dead at a mosque in the Wadi Ara town of Ar’ara, where he was hiding from authorities.
The shooting came at the end of a day that saw roadblocks and police reinforcements pour into Tel Aviv and neighbouring cities despite the fact that the focus of the hunt for Melhem had moved further north.
The shootings plunged Tel Aviv into a state of fear, with many parents in the city’s north initially keeping their children home from school.
During the search, relatives of Melhem – including his brother and his father, who had reportedly identified him to police – were arrested.
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