JERUSALEM – Israel responded on Thursday to a late night shooting in Tel Aviv by two Palestinians that killed four Israelis by sending troops into the West Bank village of the attackers and freezing 83,000 permits allowing Palestinians to enter Israel.

The Israeli army went into the village of Yatta overnight near Hebron just hours after two residents, cousins from the village, carried out the shooting attack at a Tel Aviv open market and declared the area a closed military zone.

The civil administration, Israel’s military authority responsible for implementing government policy in the West Bank, then said it was freezing 83,000 permits for Palestinians to enter Israel. The permits had been issued as a goodwill gesture to allow greater freedom of movement for Palestinians over the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which started Monday.

The mass shooting, which Israeli authorities are calling a terrorist attack, took place at a trendy Tel Aviv food market at about 9:30 Wednesday night. The Sarona Market, filled with high end restaurants and boutiques, is located near Israel’s version of the Pentagon.

On Thursday morning, police named the four dead Israelis as Ido Ben Arieh, 42, Ilana Nave, 39, Michal Fiegeh, 58, and Mila Mishev, 32.

The names of the two assailants from Yatta were put under a court imposed gag order, even though their photo was being shared widely on social media.

Police said two attackers were in custody and would not confirm reports that one of the two gunmen wounded during the attack had died overnight.

“There was a very difficult event here, of cold-blooded murder by heinous terrorists,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who later visited the site of the shooting. “We held a discussion on a string of offensive and defensive measures that we will take to act against this phenomenon.”

“There will be firm action by other security elements, not only to locate anyone who cooperated with this murder, but also to prevent further actions. We will act firmly and intelligently,” he added.

The Israeli prime minister is expected to convene an emergency meeting of his inner security Cabinet to discuss a response in the coming hours. This is the first such attack since Netanyahu appointed ultra-right politician Avigdor Lieberman as defense minister.

According to reports in the Israeli media, citing witnesses and emergency workers, the two shooters were dressed in smart attire – white shirts, ties, jackets and black pants. It had initially been reported that they were dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews, but that was dismissed by Israel police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

A witness at the scene told Israel’s Channel 10 news that the two men had sat first at the bar of a famous Israeli chocolatier, Max Brenner, before opening fire at a busy restaurant opposite. Others who saw the two in the restaurant said they looked like lawyers.

Because the attack took place across the road from the military headquarters, guards and soldiers were on the scene within minutes and able to neutralize the attackers.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s first-aid agency, reported evacuating 10 injured people from the scene. Three of them died after reaching nearby Ichilov Hospital, and a fourth died sometime later; three more remain in critical condition.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, welcomed the attack but did not claim responsibility for it, the Associated Press reported. Hamas official Mushir al-Masri called the shootings a “heroic operation,” and the group later issued an official statement promising the “Zionists” more “surprises” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner condemned the “horrific terrorist attack” and said “cowardly attacks against innocent civilians can never be justified.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was shocked that Hamas leaders “chose to welcome this attack.”

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