BICOM

Police arrested the father of Tel Aviv shooting suspect Nashat Milhelm on Tuesday, on suspicion of assisting his son. The move came as a surprise after Muhammed Milhelm appeared on television in the wake of the attack condemning his son’s act and calling on him to turn himself in. It appears that the automatic weapon used in the attack belonged to the father, though the father claimed he notified police that his weapon had been taken and feared it had been used by his son.  Other family members of the fugitive are also being held.

The focus of the manhunt for the shooter has shifted to Arab towns in northern Israel, after extensive searches failed to find him in the Tel Aviv area. Police commissioner Roni Alsheich told reporters on Tuesday morning that it was possible to “dramatically reduce the tension in the Tel Aviv area,” without elaborating. Many parents had kept their children home from school in Tel Aviv due to fears that the gunman might strike again in the city.

Nashat Milhem, a native of the Israeli-Arab town of Arara, is suspected of having gunned down Alon Bakal of Karmiel, 26, and Shimon Ruime of Ofakim, 30, during a shooting attack at the Simta bar on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv on Friday, before murdering Ayman Shaaban, a taxi driver.

Meanwhile police arrested Ahmed Hatib, a 20 years old resident of East Jerusalem, in Herzliya on Tuesday after a manhunt sparked by his family member informing police he may be intending to carry out an attack. Police located Hatib after he ran a checkpoint before abandoning his car in the centre of the city.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, an IDF officer was killed in a training accident, after apparently being hit by shrapnel from a misdirected mortar shell. The fatally wounded man was named as Yishai Rosales, 23, a company commander in the Kfir Infantry Brigade.