Man killed and dozens injured as truck rams into crowded bus stop near Mossad headquarters in Israel before driver shot dead by civilians – as Hamas praises terror attack

A driver rammed his truck into a crowd of people at a bus stop in central Israel on Sunday, killing one man and injuring more than 20 people, doctors and police said.

At least 35 people were injured in the incident near Glilot, just north of Tel Aviv, which took place just after 10am local time (8am UK time), police said. The attack took place near the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s shadowy spy agency.

At least six people are believed to have been seriously injured, with many Israeli news media reporting that people were trapped in and around the wreckage. Five are in moderate condition and twenty are in mild condition. In addition, four people were treated for anxiety.

Images from Glilot appear to show several people, including elderly Israelis, trapped by the metal front of the white truck. Police said civilians at the scene of the incident “shot the truck driver and neutralized him,” with a spokesperson adding that police are treating the incident as a terror attack.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that many of the injured civilians were elderly people who had gotten off a bus prior to a visit to a nearby IDF base.

Hamas said in a statement that the “heroic ram attack” carried out near the “Mossad headquarters… was a response to the crimes committed by the Zionist occupation” against Palestinians.

Israeli aid workers clear the scene after a driver rammed his truck into a crowd of people at a bus stop in Ramat Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv, on October 27, 2024.

Israeli police investigate the scene of a truck ramming outside the Glilot military base near Tel Aviv, Israel, October 27, 2024

Paramedic Elior Yosef, who arrived at the bus stop after the ramming, said he saw eight people “trapped under the truck.”

“A number of other victims were lying or walking near the truck,” he said in Magen David Adom’s statement.

Preliminary police findings showed the driver also struck a bus that had stopped at the same location to drop off passengers, police said in a statement.

Earlier on Sunday, Magen David Adom emergency services said the incident took place on Aharon Yariv Boulevard in Ramat HaSharon, north of the Tel Aviv commercial center.

Of the injured, at least 16 people were transported to nearby hospitals, MDA said in a statement.

Officers and ambulances rushed to the scene, where Israeli television channels showed police cordoning off the area as medics helped the wounded and a helicopter hovered overhead.

Highway 5 was closed to traffic and Israeli police asked motorists to use alternate routes and avoid the area.

Politicians, including Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have already flocked to the scene.

Officials attend a commemoration ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza on the Hebrew calendar, at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, October 27, 2024

A truck driver rammed his vehicle (pictured) into a crowd of people at a bus stop in central Israel on Sunday, injuring at least 35 people

Israeli aid workers clear the scene after a driver rammed his truck into a crowd of people at a bus stop in Ramat Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv, on October 27, 2024.

Israeli police inspect the body of the truck driver at the scene of a ram attack in Ramat Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv on October 27, 2024

Minister of National Security of Israel Itamar Ben Gvir looks on at the scene of a truck ramming outside the Glilot military base near Tel Aviv, Israel, October 27, 2024

At least six people were seriously injured in the crash

Israeli police are still investigating the incident

The incident comes as Israel holds ceremonies to mark the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, which sparked the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

It also comes as Israeli attacks on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said on Sunday, as Israel’s offensive in the hard-hit and isolated north entered a third week and aid groups described a humanitarian catastrophe.

Iran’s supreme leader, meanwhile, said Israeli attacks on the country over the weekend “should not be exaggerated or downplayed” while stopping short of calling for retaliation, suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.

Dozens were rushed to hospital to be treated for their injuries

The incident is being treated as a terrorist attack

The police are investigating the identity of the attacker

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes struck military targets in Iran in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

The gunfight has raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant allies, including Hamas and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this month after nearly attacking. year of lower-level conflict.

The Israeli army said on Sunday that four soldiers, including a military rabbi, were killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, without giving details of the circumstances. Five other staff were said to have been seriously injured.

A view of the area as medical teams responded to dozens of people at the scene after a truck crashed into a bus stop on October 27, 2024, north of Tel Aviv, Israel.

An Israeli police officer inspects the cabin of a truck that rammed into a bus stop near the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, injuring dozens of people, Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom near Tel Aviv, Israel, said.

Netanyahu says attacks on Iran have achieved Israel’s objectives

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the attacks had “severely damaged” Iran and achieved all of Israel’s objectives.

‘The air force struck throughout Iran. We have seriously damaged Iran’s defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us,” Netanyahu said in his first public comments on the attacks.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, said: “It is up to the authorities to determine how to transfer the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that will further the interests of this country.” serve country. country.’

Khamenei would make a final decision on how Iran responds.