pushing sanders out of the race, but it seems that the math to senator sanders and the choice is his where to carry on from here. the president is clearly anxious to get on out there and start campaigning. he spoke to both candidates last night and he spoke to both candidates and issued a statement that said secretary clinton clenched the nomination, so that is clearly where he stands. thomas? >> we know the president is off to new york to tape the appearance with "jimmy fam lo fallon." thank you to all of you. that wraps up our coverage here from the santa monica pier in a beautiful sunny, santa monica, california. my colleague kate snow picks things up back in new york. all right, thank you so much. i'm kate snow and we begin with breaking news out of tel aviv, israel. police confirming there was an attack at a supermarket near the defense ministry.

we understand there may have been multiple people wounded. a statement just out from the tel aviv police said shots were fired by a suspect. let's go right to kelly colbiet with more. >> reporter: yes, we are hearing varying reports of the number of injured. we are hearing as many as nine. we are hearing from other local media sources around four. but again, those numbers have not yet been confirmed by nbc news. as you can imagine, this just now is evolving and developing. so we are just trying to get some information, more information here. we also understand from mickey rosenfeld, the government spokesman in israel, that tweeted an update saying that shots were fired by a suspect.

police units are mobilized in the area. they are searching the area and hospitals have been opened in the area. of course, this is a great concern because of the fate of the knife attacks over the course of several weeks in the fall. however, we should stress in this case, we don't know the identity of the shooter or the background of the shooter. in fact, we don't actually have confirmation of how many shots were fired and what kind of an attack this was. so information still slowly is coming into us here, kate. what we know so far, what we have confirmed is that there was some kind of attack at this supermarket in tel aviv close to the defense minute industry. and that shots were fired by a suspect. again, not a clear idea of how many people wounded. >> all right, kelly cobiella watching this from the london bureau. of course, this happening in tel

aviv, a coastal city in israel. kelly, we'll let you get back to reporting and bring us updates that you might have. for now we'll switch to politics. that is that, a year of campaigning, half a billion dollars later, and we finally have our final two candidates unofficially until the conventions. there are now exactly five months left until election day. a lot could change and we will discuss that, but after last night's results, our general election analysis can begin in earnest. today hillary clinton's fans still basking in the glow of last night. clinton basically through a party celebrating a historic accomplishment. >> first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee. there are still ceilings to break for women and men for all of us, but don't let anyone tell you that great things can't

happen in america. >> the good news for clinton translates into potentially bad news for bernie sanders. but democrats are being careful about giving him space today, including vice president joe biden. >> reporter: is it time for bernie sanders to drop out of the race? >> oh, be a little graceful. let the man have his own pace. >> caller: do you think hillary clinton and him can come together and the party can unite? >> coming up, we hope to speak to sanders' first congressional supporter about how sanders accepts what he's calling the inevitable. and also clinton supporters, senator bob casey with us. donald trump used his speech last night to try to put the past couple of weeks behind him, but in the past few hours we are still hearing from republicans unwilling to just let it pass. >> i want to see a republican in the white house. but i can tell you, given the positions of mr. trump so far, he's not going to get there. we have all been waiting for donald trump 2.0, hasn't arrived

yet, but there's time between now and november for him to change his positions. and i hope he does. >> with news happening on both sides of the race, we've got our reporters covering all of it. of course, bringing you the latest as it's unfolding, we'll begin with nbc's kasie hunt covering the clinton campaign today. kasie, a historic evening for hillary clinton last night, but bernie sanders promising to stay in until the convention. what are we hearing about the party coming together? >> reporter: well, kate, i think it may be joe biden who has put it best today or at least who has had kind of the calmest response to what is going on as far as trying to bring the party together, saying let's handle this situation with a little bit of grace and let bernie sanders go at his own pace a little bit here. the sanders campaign saying privately that the senator needs at least a couple of days to process everything that has gone on as he moves towards making a decision about how to go next. we do know that he, of course, has the meeting with president obama planned for thursday. he has also announced a campaign

event for the district of columbia on thursday. of course, d.c., the very final set of voting in this democratic primary set for next tuesday. but at this point the numbers obviously show that hillary clinton is the presumptive democratic nominee. so she, of course, is pressing ahead, not publicly necessarily pressing sanders to drop out or anything like that, but instead speaking magnanimously last night about the people he's drawn into this process and what he's accomplished over the course of this campaign. i think that rhetoric kind of aimed at deescalating whatever tension is there. she, of course, has been in this position herself having had to grapple with the same set of issues when she lost the democratic nomination to barack obama in 2008. but really, i think the focus for the clinton campaign, the historic nature of this night moving forward to take on donald trump in the fall, she already has campaign events planned in ohio and pennsylvania for early next week, kate. >> and kasie, we are hearing

from his supporters, we just got a statement over the last hour from keith ellison for members of the progressive caucus. >> that's right. saying, essentially, that bernie sanders should consider getting out of this race. there's no question, democrats will be unified at our convention in july and defeat donald trump come november. we must also keep the movement's energy going by electing progressives at all levels of government from city councils and school boards to governorships and senate seats. so there you have the progressive wing of the party saying that this does need to continue forward. and i don't think there's resistance to that necessarily among democrats in power or what bernie sanders would describe as the democratic establishment per se. i do think there is a question on the tone and tenure for how the democrats proceed, like will they boo chairman debbie wasserman schultz at the

convention and put someone else in to chair the convention itself. those are still some of the questions to be resolved, but i'm not sure we are getting indications. i think that statement indicates that tone of that is more likely positive than negative. >> kasie hunt, thank you so much. a quick programming note, lester holt is joined one-on-one by hillary clinton on "nightly news" at 6:30 on your nbc station. as we sit here in early june, who is ahead? it's not exactly a simple answer. it depends on how you slice it. she's ahead on a hypothetical electoral college map and key demographics. trump gets the check for being the candidate of change. our nbc news/wall street journal poll shows 53% said they want a presidential candidate to bring greater changes to how the government operates. clinton has more money, 30 million in the bank versus 2 million for trump. and more unified party leaders, but trump takes the final category. unified rank in file party

members. why? the democrats are still looking to come together after a tough primary season. joining me now, pennsylvania senator bob casey, a clinton supporter. senator, nice to see you again. >> kate, good to be with you, thank you. >> so on the day after, we just heard joe biden say, let's have some grace, let's give him some time, but you've already called on senator sanders to move on to the next chapter here. how quickly does he need to throw his support behind hillary clinton? >> well, i think you're seeing good signs early. the meeting with president obama i think is a good signal. but i think it's up to senator sanders as to how he does it, but i hope he takes very specific steps soon to begin the process of unifying the party. this isn't a process where it's one meeting or one event or one action. it will be a series of things that will play out, but i hope that happens soon by him. and then, of course, the larger effort of unifying the party will take even more time.

but i think he can begin within days. >> his fans, as you know, his supporters don't really want to hear this from you, from a clinton supporter. we had a guest on yesterday, actress shalene woodley and talking about bernie sanders and why he should go all the way to the convention. take a listen. >> bernie sanders does win in every national poll against donald trump. that's the fact. and we have to start paying attention to that. so regardless of what happens in california today, everyone should vote, but regardless of what happens, when we go to convention, that is something that the dnc needs to pay attention to. who is the most electable president in beating donald trump? >> senator, how do you respond to someone like her who represents a lot of young people out there who are very impassioned about support for bernie sanders? >> well, look at this, a lot of democrats have very strong feelings in both parties. but we have a process that has played out now, hillary clinton

has a lot more votes, many more votes as all of the advantages and terms of delegates. and i also think you can see from the surveys that she runs a very strong, very strongly in a general election match-up against donald trump. so no matter who you talk about in the general election from our side, it's going to be a tough race. i think hillary clinton is the strongest candidate, but we have to begin now to unify because the sooner we get to unifying, the more substantial our campaign will be against donald trump. the worst thing we can have is to have this period where folks don't unify and give donald trump the advantage. i think hillary knows how to bring the party together. i think bernie does as well. and i think the two of them working with their campaigns can unify our party. and then take on donald trump. and if anyone has any doubts about where he wants to take the country, just read the agenda of

the republicans in the house and the senate. that's where donald trump wants to take the country. >> senator bob casey of pennsylvania, thanks so much for being with us, appreciate it. >> thanks, kate. back to the breaking news we mentioned at the top of the hour, we are talking about tel aviv, israel. we are talking about a shooting at a supermarket there. kelly cobiella is monitoring new video and new reports coming in. kelly? >> reporter: that's right. we now understand from the police spokesman in israel, mickey rosenfeld, police have captured one shooter, one they call a terrorist. shops and this restaurant -- shops and restaurants at this mall have been evacuated. this is at the sorona complex. there are report that is one of the gunmen approached and opened fire on passers by, confirmed

again by the police spokesman, mickey rosenfeld, seven people were injured and taken to hospitals. reports on local media that nine total have been injured. at least one critical. but that number, that higher number has not yet been confirmed. there are also some unconfirmed reports once again in local media that, if that is corren f two shooters, not one, that have been taken into custody. as i said, this is a very upscale area of tel aviv. this would have been a crowded area in the early evening, a shopping mall where you can have dinner, get your shopping done, very popular area of tel aviv. so clearly you can see all of the police activity there, the security services out trying to koord corden off the area and just trying to get information. we still don't know for sure, we don't have any confirmation on the background of this shooter,

on any sort of motive. but this is being called or at least hinted at the fact that this is, could be a terrorist attack, just by the mere fact that mickey rosenfeld says one terrorist has been captured. we also understand there is some video of an actual officer reported to be of an officer shooting the suspect. we have not yet confirmed or authenticated that video. but we are taking a look at that as well. we have folks on the ground from our nbc bureau there on their way to the scene to see if we can get some of these details sorted out for you, kate. >> all right. yeah, information trickling in slowly here as we get the first video that we're seeing out of tel aviv, israel. and kelly, just one point of clarification, police say they have captured one shooter, do we know whether there might have been more than one shooter or we simply don't know? >> reporter: well, there's conflicting information right now. local media is reporting that

there were two. but as you know, at the beginning of incidents like this, there can be some confusion or confusing information on the ground. local police, the police spokesman is saying one shooter at this point. that's what we have confirmed. >> all right, kelly cobiella watching it from london, we'll keep track of this story and continue to monitor. as she said, at least seven injured. some local media reporting that it might be as many as nine people injured in tel aviv, israel. it's on the mediterranean, a seaside city. i was there a couple summers ago. very sophisticated and social city. a lot of bars and restaurants and social life in that city. so as kelly said, seven hours ahead of eastern time there, it's 10:15 at night, and this happened a couple hours ago. this would have been a wednesday night when people were out at this mall at this complex enjoying the restaurants and shops that are now shut down as the police in israel try to see if the situation is under

control, if there are any other suspects on the loose. but at this point, telling us they do have one shooter that they have detained. we will continue to follow that story and take a quick break and be right back. the decision to ride on and save mone he decided to save money by switching his motorcycle insurance to geico. there's no shame in saving money. ride on, ride proud. geico motorcycle, great rates for grt rides. more of the old lady.

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let's get back to the breaking news we are covering from tel aviv. i want happened in a supermarket, more like a mall, a complex of restaurants and shops. it is called and upscale mall. this was a shooting. we are getting word from the idf, the israeli defense forces, that several people have been injured. at least one person is in critical condition. the idf is calling it a mass shooting. in a tweet, they say mass shooting attack at a popular mall in the heart of tel aviv.

let me go to kelly cobiella in london. for context here, this is a country that unfortunately has suffered a lot of violent incidents over the last couple of years, in most cases involving stabbings and knifings as opposed to shootings. >> reporter: that's right. you'll remember back in the fall, for a series of weeks, there were these near constant knife attacks of palestinians, for the most part, attacking israeli soldiers, israeli citizens. we reported on it repeatedly, the sort of new entefada to terrorize the public in israel and the soldiers as well. so it has been an intense

situation. a number of deaths over the course of several weeks. and police and security services in israel, very frustrated in their ability to prevent it or stop it. but this is something altogether different, kate. now we're talking about a shooting, a shooting at a very popular and upscale mall in the center of tel aviv. reports that at least one gunman opened fire at this upscale mall injuring possibly as many as nine people. seven we know for sure according to the police. and potentially, potentially there was more than one shooter. we understand there that two have been taken into custody and we are working to confirm that. possibly one shot, one taken into custody. again, a lot of this information coming from local media. and police trying to track down exactly how many attackers there

may have been in this area tonight. again, we've heard from the spokesman for the police, the israeli police, mickey rosenfeld who said the police captured one terrorist. shops and the food mall evacuated. seven people injured and taken to the hospital. that is the latest from mickey rosenfeld. now we are waiting to hear if they are looking for more attackers. but kate, the difference between a knife attack and a gun attack, many, many people were injured in knife attacks over the course of weeks, but a gun altogether something different when you can have nine casualties in the matter of minutes in front of this mall. >> and have we been able, i'm not sure the answer of this, kelly, have we have been able to verify with hospitals yet they are treating patients? i know that the numbers of victims has been a bit hard to figure out at this point. >> reporter: not necessarily. with hospitals, kate, again, the

police spokesman tweeted out that seven people have been taken to the hospital. so at least seven according to police are being treated at a local hospital. and that -- that falls in life with the media reports in israel as well that seven have been taken to the hospital. again, as we've said over the past few minutes, it could be as many as nine. we also hear that people, some, are being treated at the scene. so suggesting that some of the injuries are not quite as serious or severe. we do have reports there is at least one critical injury among these casualties, possibly a couple of serious injuries as well. again, working to confirm that with local hospitals as well as with the police. but we do know for a fact that at least according to police that seven have been taken to the hospital. >> actually, kelly, as you were speaking, i'm told by our control room that police in israel are now confirming that one of those injured is a fatality now, that we have one

death from this, what they are calling a mass shooting at a popular mall in the heart of tel-aviv, israel. again, no indications of whether there was one shooter or more than one shooter. at this point police said they captured or apprehended one person, one suspect. they had said they were searching the area to be sure that it was secure, but they did have one suspect in custody. we are also trying to get information, obviously, about how this all went down, what kind -- we have no indication, kelly, of what a motive might have been. >> no, we don't have any indication of a motive at this point. kate. the only hint towards that would be in these statements, very brief statements, from the police spokesman suggesting that police had captured one terrorist. those are his words. that would suggest that this was a terrorist attack, that there was some sort of, you know, there was some sort of political motive behind this shooting.

but we don't know at this point the background of the shooters. we don't know if anything was said during this attack or before this attack. we don't know if anyone, in particular, was targeted in this attack. the fact that it happened at a very busy and upscale mall in the center of tel aviv does not bode well, that it appears to lean more towards some sort of terrorist attack than perhaps a domestic. of course, israel has seen those kinds of situations. and you have had cases in the past where there were knife attacks, for example, at small shops which turned out to be more of a personal issue than any sort of broader terrorist attack. but this doesn't appear at first glance to be one of those cases. at first glance, it appears to be something much more serious and more sinister. we just heard this from our producer in israel, army radio

in israel is saying that three are dead. police are still saying that only one has died. it's not clear if those three perhaps include an attacker, more than one attacker, we did hear in the past several minutes that police are saying that one of the shooters or a shooter had been neutralized. so again, we're getting more information now from the army radio in israel according to our producer, paul goldman. the army radio saying that three are dead in this shooting. trying to clarify that as well, kate. >> kelly cobiella from the london bureau, appreciate that. we should reiterate we do not at msnbc have any independent confirmation yet of anything more than we have learned from official sources, which is the police in israel telling us that one person is dead. many more injured. we don't have a specific number. the tweet from the idf, the israeli defense forces, said that several were injured during

a shooting attack. they are calling it a mass shooting at this popular mall in tel aviv. i'm joined onset in new york by ama mulhadin, this is a beautiful city. we often hear of attacks in jerusalem but not tel aviv. >> tel aviv has had their share of violence, particularly in the recent wave of stabbings that have taken place. but you're right, for the past several years, i guess, the concentration has been more on western jerusalem. it is also going to be interesting to see where the shooting originated. so many of the buildings, the public billings in tel aviv across israel have security guards on them.

for somebody to enter a mall space inside the mall, they would have gotten through one security permitter which would have involved metal detectors and usually on-site security. it seems most of the activity is outside, but obviously even in many of these public spaces there are security, private security companies, private security guards in addition to the israeli police that maintain a very robust presence in a lot of these areas in downtown tel aviv and nearby. so, again, obviously still very early. but any time something like this happens in the commercial center of israel, that is certainly very troubling. >> and as you say, we don't know whether this happened inside the mall or outside the mall. we're getting just initial reports that a gunman approached the mall in some way. i can tell you just from looking on google this is the sorona market we are talking about, the

largest indoor market in all of israel operating seven days a week. 90 stores of all restaurants and stores, so it is more equivalent to a mall than a supermarket as we initially were saying. >> yeah, it is definitely a commercial area in the sense that it has restaurants, it's a very popular destination in tel aviv. a lot of old buildings, you know, boutique stores, there's a variety of various types of commercial activity there. to limit it as a mall here but more of a commercial destination that includes shops, stores, restaurants. so it would be at least from the perspective of significant value, one that would have a lot of people there. and you put it again in the context of this happening in evening time, people might be at the restaurants, this time of the year weather is beautiful in tel aviv, so it is very difficult to kind of analyze it when you don't know the context of what may have happened and what the cause of this particular shooting is.

>> and the only indication we have at all of the possibility of terrorism is because the police in their language as they were releasing this information used the term terrorist to describe the shooter. we understand they have apprehended. we don't know if the shooter was shot or taken into custody. let me go to malcolm nance on the phone with us, malcolm, are you there? our nbc terrorism analyst. >> i'm here, go ahead. >> malcolm, give us your assessment, we don't know much at this point. we don't know what has happened, but just from looking at the video that's coming in, it looks like a chaotic situation. >> well, it's a chaotic situation. as ayman said earlier, it's a peaceful evening night at serona market. for the gunman or whoever it was to carry out this attack, the israelis call it a terrorist, we have learned a few things just by looking at the photographs coming out of there. there is an improvised weapon

which looks like a homemade or machine-factory made for sub-machine gun world war ii style that was jury-rigged. that appears to be the weapon from this attack that we have seen with this stack o of .9-millimeter bullets. it was an attack with weapons purchase purchased off the market. so we are getting that. the israeli army doesn't use the word terrorist lightly. so they are talking about palestine and territories near, whatever you want to call it, so they believe this is a terrorist attack. >> malcolm, to be clear, i think you're referring to photos you have seen on the internet that we're not yet showing on nbc news. >> that's right. >> not verified by us independently yet. but as you look at gathering

evidence and see what is happening there, if you were on this scene, what are you trying to do if you're a terrorism expert, what are you trying to figure out in the early hours? >> well, almost immediately the first thing i want to know is, how does the person approach the site? what weapons did he use? as i said, we're getting things over the internet feeds right now. is the area secure? the israelis will handle that and have a massive intelligence search. getting one, two, more shooters into a city like tel aviv, which is a big city, but there's many, many depths of security that a person would have to go through, is to them to come off as an intelligence failure. and they want to walk this effect backwards from how the terrorist got there and then back to how they could have gotten into the city and gotten these -- whatever weapons they used in there. >> malcolm nance, if you will stay with us, our terrorism

analyst, standby. we are lucky to have martin fletcher in the building, long-time correspondent for nbc news based in tel aviv for many years, semi-retired but back to offer perspective. we don't know a lot in these early moments, martin, buff lt have lived there a long time. start with the idf saying using the term "terrorist." >> well, tel aviv has been expecting a step up in the violence, there's been stabbing attacks for the last nine months that tapered off, excuse me, there was a bombing, more smaller bombings in jerusalem. there was a recent stabbing attack in tel aviv when somebody on top front ran after a couple of israelis and stabbed them in the head with knives. and so the next step up that the country was fearing was this kind of shooting attack or a suicide bombing attack. israel was hoping that the

violence that exploded really over the last nine months had died out. there were many reports by the security services that they are on top of this, but at the same time the police were saying, you know, this is -- we are waiting for fearing these kinds of attacks. >> martin, stay with us. let me go to paul goodman, the producer on the ground in tel aviv, paul, you made your way over to the scene? >> yes, we are right here near the city where they cordened it off. we are near bystanders where we are looking now at the scene where on what we know two israelis were shot dead. and two were also shot by police. hundreds of policemen here. this is near ninth market where a lot of israelis come to eat out and walk around. and in a few seconds this whole area turned into a terror scene.

a lot of police and lots of ambulance are rushing in to take the wounded. 12k3w >> let me clarify, have you been able to say that three israelis are dead and two others shot? >> yes, from what we are hearing here at the scene, there are three wounded and taken to the hospital declared dead at the hospital. that's what the local reporters here are saying. and altogether there is about six to nine wounded israelis. and from what we are hearing here at the scene, there were two people that carried out the attack and that they were neutralized by the police. >> does neutralized mean they were shot dead as well? >> yeah, shot -- i can't confirm

they are dead, but they were shot by the police. >> and do you know anything about how this happened? we have not been able to get any information so far about what actually went down. were they two men? did they enter the mall? what happened? >> reporter: yeah, it's an outdoor mall, a lot of outdoor restaurants and coffee shops and lots of people here at night, it's nice weather, so we can say a lot of people were here. and from what we know, they arrived here at the scene and opened fire at people, just random shootings, and that's what we know for now. >> do we know anything about these two men? do we know anything about their background or did they say anything to announce who they were? >> reporter: no, usually it takes a bit of time for the police to confirm this. we are here at the scene and it happened a half hour ago. so it's a bit too early to say

who these people were. >> and just to clarify one thing, paul, we saw a statement from a police spokesman who called one of the people, one of the suspects, called him a "terrorist," used that word, israeli police, idf, are they suspecting these two men were terrorists? they suspect that was their motivation? >> yeah, police confirm this is a terrorist attack. so we can expect, from what they said, that this is a terror-related incident and not just random shootings by israelis against their brothers. we can tell that this is -- from the scene here, from what i'm seeing and the amount of police and forensic units that are here, this was a terror attack. >> paul, do you know that mall well or that outdoor shopping area? is there security at all? you described it as an outdoor

market. so would there have been any kind of barricades or anything to prevent someone from walking up? >> no. it's a market called sarona market situated near a huge military base in the center of tel aviv where the headquarters of the defense ministry is located. so it's an outdoor market. and it's impossible to have your guards everywhere. i come here a lot. my family -- and there are guards -- there's a closed area market and that is guarded, but the outdoor market is just impossible to guard everywhere here. and it's quite a big area. and at this point now the police are moving us away because they are expecting any left belongings behind. they were left behind by the

terroris terrorists. is it still active? >> they are going to search the area ch. from what we know, all the wounded have been evacuated and there are no more suspicion people running after. like i said, they are checking now suspicious objects left behind to see if there are any bombs here. >> paul goldman, our nbc producer out of tel aviv on the scene at this mall that we have been talking about. as paul said, about a half hour ago, this is very, very recent news. maybe 40 minutes ago, two people approached this mall. according to local police, those two people shot and killed three israelis. they wounded others potentially

between six and nine other people treated for injuries. and reports now that the two responsible for the shooting were brought down or neutralized by police. let me go back to martin fletcher and ayman here on the set with me. martin, fill in the blanks. we don't want to draw conclusions or make assumptions about motivations, but this does seem to fit as paul indicated a bit of a pattern. >> yeah, there's no doubt. on past history of the area in the region, this clearly -- we have to wait for the official statements, but it is clearly a terrorist attack in the heart of tel aviv. right within yards of the israeli military headquarters in tel aviv, they will have a lot of plain clothed security in the area, there always is. the last time i was in that market, sarona market, was with our producer paul goldman and

his son. we were having a meal there. everybody goes to that area. what this will do now is shed a new aspect to the call by many of the israeli security services who are calling on the government to allow more palestinians from the west bank to give them work premise to work inside israel. the israeli security services believe strongly the way to stop terrorism is to allow more palestinians inside israel to work. and that will lower the motivation of the palestinians to come and carry out these kinds of terror attacks. so a lot of this clear respons to israelis is to allow more palestinians in is just asking for trouble. this will be more risk to those people. >> that will start a political debate. >> yet. >> kelly cobiella used the term "entefada" describing the things that have happened the last couple years. she said it's not officially called that, but there is a sense that we're at a new point

in history in the region. >> in terms of what some palestinian groups have called a third uprising, if you will, this wave of knife stabbings and stuff, but in the bigger picture in terms of the context of what is happening in the occupied palestinian territories, the shift in israeli policies, the current government more to the right to what has been described by israelis as even more of an extreme right-wing government, some of the measures that have taken place in the west bank. the siege that continues in gaza, all of those continue to fester. as a result, the sense of depravation, the sense of frustration, the lack of clarity on a political process that would lead to a some kind of peace process, if you will, all of that has been brewing for the last several months. it's been system attic for the last several years in terms of

the ongoing occupation, but in the last nine months with these wave of attacks, that has been a huge factor in why we are seeing this sudden spike. there's a tremendous amount of frustration among palestinians who live in the occupied west bank coupled with the shift in israeli politics to the right that has left further measures of what palestinians say is oppression in the occupied west bank. the lack of any progress on the front with gaza, it has been a recipe of disaster. >> boiling point, perhaps. martin, as we try to think back, and we have heard so much about the knife attacks that have happened last fall, that was the last big spate of them, but is this -- if you can put this in context, how significant is an event like this. and we're talking about three people dead, multiple injuries. i mean, it looks a lot like what we saw in paris although not on the same scale. i guess i just wonder whether this will be a call to action on

both sides. >> well, probably not much will change in the situation. because of this -- it was feared, the palestinian groups are trying to do this kind of thing. but it's a shock to the israeli public. tel aviv is always sort of a rather hip, cool place outside the mainstream of the violence. occasionally it reaches tel aviv with a devastating effect, there have been bus bombs in tel aviv over the years and the attacks like this, but they are far and few between. the -- from the point of view of the attackers, this was a successful attack. that will shock the israelis, but will it change anything? will it lead either side towards any movement towards peace or understanding that they need to make progress? probably not. as ayman said, the israeli government, every few years we say, oh, this is the most ring-wing government in israeli history and it gets more

right-wing. the chances there is a move toward peace as a result of the violent shooting is probably the wrong conclusion. the new defense minister, an extremely right-winger, he will be calling clearly as a defense minister for a strong response of some kind. >> and this will be, correct me if i'm wrong, but really the first test on the security front for this new right-wing coalition government that was just formed within the last couple of weeks. this is the first, certainly the first significant major incident that has happened since this government has come into formation. so i suspect as martin was saying, you're going to hear a tough talk in terms of measurements, in terms of if they identify and conclude this is, in fact, the result of the palestinian terrorist group or if a palestinian individual was acting out. and one of the frustrating things for the security establishment in israel over the past several months has been this wave of knife attacks that have taken place. a lot of them have been self-motivated. there was a lot of criticism

directed at some point toward the palestinian authority they were not doing enough to clamp down on this, but they felt that, you know, with the social media and satellite television, a lot of this was self-radicalization, if you will. >> or what some call lone wolf attacks. >> exactly. that frustrated the security services' attempts to prevent them from happening. where in the past if they knew there was an organization behind it or a specific group, they could target that particular group or a certain member of the group. that has been a little bit different in terms of the attack. again, very premature to say all of this is as a result of that, but given the comments that have come out of israel and the initial conclusion or the initial analysis it is a terrorist attack, the context of what happens in israel and the palestinian territories are important, it can't be lost on what is happening as a result of this violence. >> let's go back to israel for a moment. joining us on the phone now, washington post foreign correspondent ruth eglash is there. ruth, you're in jerusalem?

>> reporter: yes, i'm in jerusalem but i got word of the attack pretty quickly at 9:30 this evening. >> and what have you learned about what happened, about what we know about these two suspects? we have been reporting that there are three israelis dead according to our producer. six to nine wounded. then two suspects shot by police. what more do you know? >> reporter: well, what i can tell you is that there are three dead, one of the injured is in critical condition. so that number could rise. we also know that one of the shooters was shot dead by police and the other one is wounded and is currently in recovery in one of tel aviv's hospitals. so they should be interrogated and they will try to get more information. there was information of a third shooter on the loose in tel aviv, but police have ruled that out.

and according to the police statement over the last few minutes, the incident in tel aviv is over and the area is secure. like the person you had on earlier, this market is a very upscale area of tel aviv right across the street from israel's pentagon or military offices, military headquarters, and this is a very central part of tel aviv. so this is a big shocker for people who live in the tel aviv area who often feel very separated from the day-to-day tension between israelis and palestinians. >> and ruth, it goes without saying, i'm sure people are horrified by what has happened there, but what are you hearing on the ground? as you just mentioned, this is a bit of the blue for tel aviv, what is the reaction like? >> reporter: i mean, i think people are very shocked here. first of all, there was, you

know, stabbings in october and for the few months after that there was an increase in number of lone wolf attacks or individual attacks throughout the country. but most of them happened in the west bank in jerusalem. and often tel aviv feels like it is very separated from what is happening in the west bank or in jerusalem. and for this to happen in an area that is so upscale, i mean, we're talking designer shops here, high-end restaurants and a peak time for people to go out on a wednesday evening, you know, 9:00, i mean, people in israel love to go out and go to restaurants, even with young children at that time. and so, you know, there is -- there are a lot of different rumors flying around that one of the dead is a child, that the two attackers were dressed in,

like, suits and white shirts and dressed up very nicely for spanning out in the area. and we have to highlight that this area just ramadan for musl the west bank. also during the day, things are quiet here. and then in the evening, the muslims have their evening meal, and one of the two shooters had a meal in tel aviv. >> what is the source of that information, that they were dressed in suits and had a meal? >> it's just flying around from local media sources. none of that is official from the police yet. it's just happened in the last hour. so it's still very, very fresh information. >> and ruth, can you speak to what we were talking about a few

minutes ago? i don't know if you could hear us, but we were talking about the politics of israel. you've just had a major change in government, a shift. >> yeah, there's been a reshuffle here in recent weeks with the ultra nationalist party leader taking over the defense ministry, which is just across the road from where the shooting happened. i just got word that prime minister netanyahu landed at tel aviv airport within the last 20 minutes, arriving back from his meeting with vladimir putin in russia, and he's called already for an emergency meeting of the inner security cabinet to assess what his reaction will be to this. >> ruth eg lash, thanks so much for being with us on the phone from jerusalem. really appreciate all your information. >> you're welcome. >> let me go back to ayman and

martin fletcher, our veteran. do you mind if i call you our veteran correspondent from the middle east? so we're getting bits and pieces now, word unconfirmed by nbc news, but potentially these two men tried to blend in to the crowd, which i guess makes sense, if you're trying to get into an area with way lot of security, you want to look like you belong there. if you were to look in the past, in terms of all kinds of attacks that have taken place in israel, as the security has become more sophisticated and certainly in an area like this, as martin was saying, plain clothed police officers, it's not surprising that whoever carried this attack out was going to try to blend in, to try to get as far as possible in terms of where they wanted to go. and as martin was saying, in tel aviv, you know, it has a western flavor to it, a western style to

it. so obviously you're going into that party of the city. if you're carrying weapons, you'll try to con veceal those. not sure if that is correct information, but it does not surprise me that the people in this attack were trying to be discreet to get to where they wanted to. >> in terms of weapons and the availability of weapons, i had presumed that the reason we saw a lot of knife attacks, because that was an easier thing in that country to get a hold of, in terms of weapons. are guns readily available in israel? >> in israel in general, you need a license to carry a gun. for jewish israelis, it's soldiers off duty carry weapons. you can't just go buy a gun. it's very difficult in israel to get a gun. but what we're talking about is people who are likely to kill israelis, can they get a gun? certainly they can get knives more easily. and as you mentioned the phrase "lone wolf," many of these

standing attacks were by individuals with no history of security offenses of any kind, who just for various reasons decided this was the time they were going to do their bit for the cause and attack an israeli. and that's what they did. what would make this particular attack significant is that two people, with weapons, got through the security service -- security cordon of tel aviv, which would suggest there was some kind of organization involved. more organization than was necessary for a lone wolf knife attack. so, yeah, they would have had to get hold of those weapons. but it's not that difficult for palestinians to come into israel through jerusalem. the wall, the barrier between the west bank and israel, which israel built over the last few years, and from israel's point of view has been very successful in stopping these kind of attacks, that wall does not include parts of jerusalem. so jerusalem is the weak point of the wall.

that's the point where palestinians from the west bank can get in the car, take a bus or taxi into the heart of tel aviv. it's very easy to do. and when you're talking about whether they needed to blend in with israelis, 20% of israel's population are arabs living inside israel. i've been to sarona market many times, enjoying the same facilities as the jewish israelis. plenty of arabs around, and there are sometimes arab victims of these attacks too. >> absolutely. let's go to jared vincent on the phone, based in tel aviv. are you there? >> yes, hi there. >> what can you tell us? we've been getting bits and pieces of information. at this point, we are reporting three killed in this shooting in tel aviv. we know that the two suspects,

according to police, we've learned that one was shot dead and one wounded, i believe. although i don't know if we've confirmed that. what do you know? >> i have three people who have been confirmed killed in the attacks. two of the shooters are alive and in police custody. the latest we have from the police in tel aviv, they have confirmed they have no indications of any additional suspects at large, and have declared a return to routine activity, deeming the incident to be over. the defense minister has reportedly convened an emergency meeting of defense ministry in tel aviv, which is very close to the sarona market. it's an upscale foot market, very fashionable, redeveloped area in this mediterranean city. so the location of this attack will be particularly shocking for many israelis. >> and i was gonna ask, on that

point, we've been talking about how there have been stabbings, there have been shootings over the past couple of years. but for context, is this significantly -- a significantly larger event than you've seen in some time? >> well, we're talking about a period of violence, the most recent period of violence which began last fall, a six, seven-month period of violence, which has seen 28 israelis killed before tonight, and nearly 200 palestinians killed. most of those people, according to the israeli authorities were shot dead while attempting to carry out attacks to israelis. there's two significantly different things about this attack. first, the location, downtown tel aviv. most of the violence, most of the attacks have been carried out in the traditional areas of unrest and friction here in the

holy land in the west bank and jerusalem. the second significantly different feature about tonight's attack, as i say, is the weapons used. most of the attacks carried out have been with knives, they've been stabbing attacks. what's been used here is firearms. i'm hearing reports it may have been a homemade weapon that was fired into a crowd and the shooter emptied the magazine. but the use of firearm suggests a level of sophistication and organized planning which we haven't seen in the attacks so far in this period of violence. >> jerat vincent on the phone with us, our correspondent based in tel aviv. that last thing you just told us is news to us, that there are reports that the weapons, one of them may have been homemade?

>> yes, i have no more details on that. but as martin was saying, most of the attacks in this period of violence have been carried out by individuals who have been acting on their own, without the kind of organization from any kind of terrorist grouping or militant grouping that we've seen in previous periods of violence. and so, as a result of that, there has been -- the weapons used haven't been as devastating as they have been this evening. but a homemade weapon would suggest that perhaps that lack of organization is continuing to an extent. approxima it doesn't mean it's not going to be lethal. >> thanks so much. as we think about, i feel like, martin, we unfortunately cover too many stories like this, but

you take a step back and think about what's happening right now, three families are having to get the worst news ever. six to nine more potentially wounded. one of whom, we're told, is in critical condition. all of this happening on a normal wednesday night. people were out to dinner with their families. >> that's right. on the other hand, that's always the case. israel is a country that has, over its history, had these spasms of violence that sometimes last years. and what's remarkable is how quickly the area recovers and people go about their live says as normal. i wouldn't be surprised within one hour, at the sarona market, if they're all back in the restaurants and eating there. that's what happens there. >> one of our reporters just said that they're calling on the public now to get back to normal business, because unfortunately, it's become all too common. let's just reset here for our viewers just joining us. it is 4:00 eastern time,