Well-wishers gathered in defiance at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market today to eat, sing and shop after a night of terror.

US youth group Ohr Torah Stone led a chant of Am Yisrael Chai as visitors laid flowers and Israeli flags as tributes to the four Israelis killed by the shootings last night in the centre of the city.

Eido Minkovsky, the market’s PR manager who previously served in the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit, said the response to the deadly attack was typical.

“Israel shows solidarity in hard times, and people did. They showed up en masse. On a usual day there are between 1800 and 2000 visitors per day - today there was the same amount in half a day.”

He said that after the traumatic events of last night, the response “makes me feel, firstly, proud. And second of all, gratitude. People intentionally moved their meetings to the market, to Sarona.”

One of those to do so was Australian ambassador Dave Sharma who visited the market with his entire staff so they could stand “in solidarity with [the] people of Tel Aviv”.

President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Avigdor Lieberman and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, also came to Sarona today.

They paid their respects to the former elite soldier, university professor, mother of four and the woman waiting for her fiancé who were killed in the attack last night.

Dr Michael Feige, a 58-year-old father of three daughters, was a sociologist and anthropologist at Ben-Gurion University. He leaves behind his wife, Nurit.

Prof Oren Yiftachel, who worked with Dr Feige, said he was “one of those who was head and shoulders above the crowd - an amazing person.

“He was a very important researcher who delved into sensitive topics and derived interesting insights. He was one of the good ones, open and attentive.”

Dr Feige, from Givatayim, east of Tel Aviv, specialised in Israeli society and political myths and won an award for his book “Settling in the Hearts: Jewish Fundamentalism in the Occupied Territories”.

But Prof Yiftachel said that his colleague was “not political despite researching political subjects.

“He had the ability to understand all sides and therefore was such a good anthropologist. He was a true democrat - a rare breed in that regard. This is a heavy loss for our university.”

Mila Misheiv, 32, was waiting for her fiancé to arrive when she was gunned down. The Ashkelon resident is survived by her parents, one sister and two brothers.

Ms Misheiv, who was wounded in the leg, was able to call her fiancée and tell him she’d been shot before she died from blood loss.

Ilana Naveh was killed while celebrating her 40th birthday in the market. She leaves behind four daughters and her husband.

Ido Ben Ari, 42, previously served in IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He was having dinner with his wife and one of his two children when the terrorists attacked.

His wife was wounded, and is now in a moderate condition. A resident of Ramat Gan, Mr Ben Ari was a senior manager at Coca-Cola Israel.

An eyewitness at the scene said that at first, they thought the noise of gunshots was “an electrical problem. Then the screaming started, and the people running past our window.

“I saw a man … he was on the other side of the window, four feet away, separated by glass. Very quickly, everyone at the restaurant either ran or fell to the ground.

They said their companion, who they were eating with at the market, ran, while “I fell to the ground. You don't coordinate these things.

“I lay there, facing away from the window. I really hoped he wouldn't come into the restaurant or shoot at the glass wall. If he did, I would die. My breathing was steady”.

“After the sounds of the shooting grew softer, someone from the restaurant shouted that we all need to run to the back in case they return, or enter the restaurant. I did. I ran, and I hoped he wasn't still there outside, the gun and the man holding it. If he was, he could shoot me.

The people in the back of the restaurant - everyone who had been in the restaurant - were staring at me, and I looked down and saw that I was covered in blood. I had fallen on my chin. It was my own.”

They said their friend “found me and cleaned off the blood. We hugged a lot. We told each other ‘I love you.’ We called our families.”