A truck driver plowed into a crowd at a bus stop in central Israel on Sunday, injuring at least 29 people, according to police and medical officials. The incident occurred at Ahron Yariv Boulevard in Ramat Hasharon, a location near the bustling commercial area of Tel Aviv.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the truck also collided with a bus that was unloading passengers at the time. Emergency services, including Magen David Adom, reported that six of the injured are in serious condition. Eyewitness accounts indicated chaos at the scene, with one paramedic, Elior Yosef, stating he saw eight individuals trapped under the truck. “A number of further casualties were either lying or walking near the truck,” he reported.
The exact nature of the incident remains unclear, as police have not officially classified it as a terrorist attack. However, they noted that civilians present at the scene intervened, shooting and neutralizing the truck driver. Police cordoned off the area, allowing emergency crews to attend to the wounded, while a helicopter circled overhead.
In a related incident, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a man who attempted to stab them during a counterterrorism operation near Jerusalem. The military described this event as a “terror attack.” According to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the attacker accelerated his vehicle toward soldiers conducting operations in the Hizma area and brandished a knife. Fortunately, no soldiers were injured in the encounter.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas responded to the truck ramming incident, referring to it as a “heroic ramming attack” and claiming it was a response to what they described as the “crimes committed by the Zionist occupation” against Palestinians.
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, there has been a notable increase in attacks within Israel, attributed to Palestinian militants. An AFP tally based on official Israeli figures indicates that at least 30 individuals, including Israeli soldiers, have been killed in such incidents since the conflict escalated.
These recent attacks coincide with ceremonies in Israel marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas assault that triggered the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. The atmosphere in the region remains tense, with heightened security measures in place amid fears of further violence.
