Watch | Israeli forces capture and kill Tel Aviv terrorist after firefight

Israeli security forces on Friday captured the terrorist who killed two people in a deadly attack in Tel Aviv after a firefight.

Over eight hours after he carried out the attack, the 28-year-old Palestinian assailant Raad Fathi Zidan Hazzam, who was from Jenin was shot dead near a mosque in Jaffa.

He had ''nationalistic motives for carrying out the attack as per Tev Aviv's Mayor Ron Huldai.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas welcomed the attack. It controls the Gaza strip and the Islamic Jihad.

"The operation in Dizengoff is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people," said Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, ''Everyone who helped him indirectly or directly will pay a price.''

Zaki Heller, the spokesperson of the Magen David Adom emergency service said, "Sixteen people evacuated to hospitals, two dead, four seriously wounded." 

Meanwhile, police spokesman Eli Levy said on Channel 13 television, "Don’t leave your homes. Don’t stick your heads out of the window. Stay off your balconies."

Also read | Watch | 4 killed, several wounded in knife attack in Israel; ‘terrorist’ shot dead: Reports

Mark Malfiev, who is being treated at the Ichilov hospital after getting injured, said I saw the window shatter, people suddenly started running, and I felt getting hit in the back."

"I felt a lot of blood. I saw blood," he added.

Condemning the terrorist attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said "Washington continues to be in regular contact with our Israeli partners, with whom we stand resolutely in the face of senseless terrorism and violence."

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides tweeted, "Horrified to see another cowardly terror attack on innocent civilians, this time in Tel Aviv. Praying for peace, and sending condolences to the victims and their families. This has to stop!"

(With inputs from agencies)