On Saturday evening, the city of Netanya in central Israel witnessed a widespread security alert after a suspect opened fire on a police force in the Kiryat Hasharon area, before sustaining critical injuries, while no injuries were recorded among police officers or among other people.
Israeli media reported that the shooting occurred in the Kiryat Hasharon neighborhood, prompting the police to bring large reinforcements to the scene and impose a security cordon around the site of the incident.
According to preliminary information, the shooter was critically injured, while no one else was injured during the incident.
Israeli media indicated that initial estimates indicate that the suspect is a former soldier in the armed forces, but no additional official details regarding his identity or background have been issued yet.
Israeli Police District Commander Amir Cohen went to the shooting site, coinciding with a large deployment of security forces and the start of an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
The motives for the shooting are still unclear, while initial estimates by the Israeli authorities suggested that the incident was not of a national nature, provided that investigations determine its background and the circumstances that led to it.
The incident comes this evening amid the continued security alert in Netanya, as the police are working to collect evidence, listen to witnesses, and determine the full sequence of what happened, at a time when no casualties have yet been reported among its members.
