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| Eritrean asylum-seeker Haftom Zarhum, 29, reportedly was in Beersheba to obtain his visa |
Eritrean bystander was shot by security guard and beaten by mob after deadly attack on Beersheba bus station.
An Eritrean man has died after he was shot and beaten by a mob after
he was mistaken for an attacker during a raid in southern Israel,
Israeli police say.
The attack on Sunday night at a bus station in the city of Beersheba
saw a Palestinian man armed with a M-16 rifle and a knife kill an
Israeli soldier and wound about 10 other people.
The attacker was killed, while a security guard shot the Eritrean
bystander, identified by Israeli media as 29-year old Haftom
Zarhum, thinking he was a second assailant.
Video footage showed that a mob also beat Zarhum, who later died in
hospital. At least one Israeil soldier was filmed kicking Zarhum in the
head as he lay bleeding on the floor of the terminal. Another man lifted
a bench and dropped it ontop of Zarhum's head.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Israeli police spokeman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed Zarhum was "misidentified".
"The man was hit by bystanders and individual civilians who were in
the area. Police are looking into it now and have obtained the CCTV
footage of the incident."
Rosenfeld said the "Palestinian attacker stabbed a soldier and stole
his M-16 rifle," opening fire on the crowds at the bus terminal. The
soldier died in hospital.
The Israeli IBA network posted footage of the attack, purportedly recorded by a surveillance camera.
In other video circulated online, a man - said to be the Eritrean -
is seen being kicked by several people as he lay bleeding on the ground.
(The graphic footage - which could be disturbing to some viewers - can
be found here.)
The suspected attacker was named by police as Muhand Alukabi, 21, a resident of Hura in the Negev.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called the attack a "natural
response" and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian group, said it was a
"normal answer to Israeli crimes".
Sunday's attack brings the total number of people killed in the
violence that erupted at the beginning of the month to 52: 44
Palestinians and eight Israelis.
The incident comes just a day after five Palestinians were shot dead
during alleged stabbing attacks - three of them in Hebron in the
occupied West Bank. Palestinians have disputed the police version of
events in at least some of the cases.
Triggered by Israeli incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound last
month, violence and protests against Israel's occupation have increased
in frequency across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the
Gaza Strip.
Diplomatic moves to halt the more than two weeks of unrelenting
violence has gained steam, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying
he plans to meet both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming
days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, rejected an idea from France that would see international observers sent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Israeli forces have responded with a crackdown on protesters, using
tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live
ammunition.
Checkpoints have been set up in the occupied East Jerusalem, where
some of the attackers have come from, and about 300 soldiers on Sunday
began reinforcing the police force.
On Sunday afternoon, Palestinians in Hebron marched from a local university to an Israeli settlement, where they were confronted by the army.
Issa Amro, director of the Youth Against Settlements group, said at least 10 Palestinians were arrested.
More protests were held across the West Bank, including the city of Nablus, and in the Gaza Strip.
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