Police forces are searching for a suspicious man and woman with an Arab appearance seen on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street following reports received from passersby. According to eyewitnesses, the two shouted, "Itbah al-Yahud" (slaughter the Jews).
A passerby who spotted the two telephoned the police and claimed to have seen "a terrorist". According to the report, the two acted in suspicious manner on a bus traveling on the street and one of them began shouting in Arabic.
Manhunt in heart of city (Photo: Ofer Amram)
Massive police forces were dispatched to the area and launched a search for the suspects. The crowded street was closed to traffic and opened several hours later.
Sisters Ortal and Yael Weiman were on the bus at the time of the incident. One of them recounted, "We were sitting on the bus. It wasn't full. A fat man with a beard, in his 50s, was sitting behind us. I heard him say, 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) and 'itbah al-Yahud'. We yelled at the driver to stop and immediately escaped from the bus and called the police. We don't know where he went afterwards."
An air raid siren sounded across Israel at 11 am Wednesday for a minute and-a-half as part of the "Turning Point 4" drill examining the home front's preparedness for a state of emergency.
Upon hearing the siren, the public was required to enter the closest fortified area and remain inside for about 10 minutes.