Hamas claims responsibility for car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv

Gaza, July 5 (IANS) The Hamas militants have claimed responsibility for a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv that left at least eight Israelis injured.

On tuesday, the attacker, identified as Abdulwahab Khalayleh, a 20-year-old from a small town near Hebron in the southern West Bank, rammed his vehicle into a group of pedestrians in the city center before being shot and killed by an armed Israeli civilian, reports Xinhua news agency.

Hamas acknowledged in a statement that Khalayleh was its member, and called him a "martyr" who carried out the attack in "heroic self-defence" against the Israeli occupation forces.

The group vowed to continue and escalate its resistance against Israel.

Israeli police said eight Israelis were injured in the attack, three of them in critical condition.

The timing of the attack coincided with a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security officials to assess the military operation in the Jenin camp in the West Bank, which has now ended, according to Israel Radio.

The operation launched by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday has killed 13 Palestinians and injured 150,.

The IDF said in a statement that it launched the operation as an "extensive counterterrorism effort in the area of Jenin city and the Jenin camp."

Israel seized the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Middle East war and has maintained control over these territories despite international criticism.

The Palestinians wish to establish their future state on these territories.