Jaffa, Tel Aviv attack: Nova festival survivor, IDF reservist hailed as a ‘hero’ after confronting shooters

CNN
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An Israeli military reservist who survived the Nova festival massacre has been hailed as a “hero” by the country’s security minister, for confronting two gunmen behind Tuesday’s shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv.

Seven people were killed and 16 wounded in the attack on Jerusalem Boulevard in Jaffa, a port neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, according to Israeli Police.

The incident happened just minutes before Iran launched a barrage of about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, its largest-ever such attack, sending sirens blaring across the country and residents running to bomb shelters.

Video posted online showed Lev Kreitman, who served six months as a reservist with the Israeli military in Gaza, firing a gun at an unknown target before running away. The footage was filmed from a nearby building in Jaffa and appears to show Kreitman wearing a pink shirt, white shorts and flip flops.

In another video, Kreitman was seen walking in the background among Israeli soldiers who were at the scene of the attack.

Speaking to CNN affiliate Channel 11, Kreitman said he had been carrying his personal handgun after his time with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Recalling Tuesday’s incident, he said how he spotted what he described as “two terrorists,” one moving toward him.

“The other goes somewhere else, runs somewhere else, and I’m here, right where we’re standing, I surprised him from the side, shoot,” Kreitman said, adding he understood straight away it was an attack.

“I tried to do my best in the very crazy situation, amid alarms, missiles, and interceptions in the sky,” he said.

Kreitman survived the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival on October 7. The trance festival in southern Israel’s Negev Desert was one target of the militant group’s rampage in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 others kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people, created a humanitarian catastrophe and left much of the Palestinian enclave in ruins.

Police said Wednesday that two gunmen had begun their “killing spree” by opening fire on passengers aboard a light rail car that had stopped at a station in Jaffa. They had then continued their attack on foot on Jerusalem Boulevard, according to police.

The attackers were stopped by security forces and civilians who used personal guns, police added. “They had an M-16 type weapon, cartridges and a knife in their possession,” police said in a statement.

Medics said they treated victims at several sites on Jerusalem Boulevard, including near train tracks, in the street, at a synagogue and in a butcher’s shop. The injured were taken to hospitals while air-raid alarms sounded in the region and throughout Israel.

Israeli authorities identified the gunmen as Muhammad Mask, 19, who was killed at the scene, and Ahmed Himoni, 25, who was severely injured. Police said the pair were residents of Hebron, a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank.

Hamas later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Following the incident, the Israel Security Agency and IDF forces arrested a number of suspects accused of being involved in assisting the gunmen in purchasing weapons and entering Israel, according to police.

In a post on X, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called Kreitman a “hero who neutralized the attack” in Jaffa and acted “bravely” in the October 7 attack as he “saved many people.” Ben-Gvir called for more Israelis to arm themselves.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Tuesday’s attack and sent condolences to the families of those who were killed.