A security camera recorded the truck as it passed through an intersection, just before it crashed into the citizens
Israeli police go up to truck to inspect the body of the driver who crashed into a stop bus near Mossad headquarters (Associated Press) Israeli police climb into the truck to inspect the body of the driver who crashed into a bus stop near Mossad headquarters (Associated Press)
The images are shocking. Police officers and citizens are trying to get people who are trapped and injured under the truck that a few hours ago fell on dozens of citizens, who had just got off a bus.
Raphael, bus driver who transported the civilians, describes the attack frame by frame speaking to OPEN, having just left the hospital, with his injuries evident.
“If my bus hadn’t been there, more people would have been injured”
“While I was talking to the passenger manager I saw this truck coming towards us at high speed at the back of the bus. Then he hit us very hard, he hit some soldiers and some civilians, some of my bus passengers who were on the sidewalk. In fact, the bus stopped him. If my bus hadn’t been there, more people would have been injured.”
After crashing into the citizens, the bus stopped. The image of the truck is indicative of the severity with which it crashed into the crowd. The place where the incident happened is only 10 kilometers from its center Tel Avivwhile the Glilot military base was targeted by Iran on October 1. The evidence collected by the authorities indicates that it is highly likely that this is a terrorist attack. According to the eyewitnesses, the driver of the truck tried to get out holding a knife and then armed citizens shot and killed him. He is an Israeli citizen of Arab origin.
“When the truck it fell to the stop, when it hit there several parts were thrown at me. The truck came very close to me and the people next to me. We started running, some fell down and I saw some people already under the truck. I kept running and fell down. Then I heard gunshots. The truck driver tried to stab several police officers when he got out. They came and shot him, I heard about 4-5 shots. At first I thought he might keep shooting people and I wanted to keep running,” Rafael tells OPEN.
Security camera has recorded the truck as it passed through an intersection, just before it crashed into the citizens. At least one dead and 32 injured, many of them in serious condition, is the toll so far. Israeli authorities are on high alert and have been instructed to be very cautious.
Where are the investigations headed?
The incident took place near Tel Aviv, specifically in the Gillot area, where Mossad headquarters are located, as well as several IDF intelligence units, including the high-profile Unit 8200 signals intelligence group.
Terrorist attack in Israel: truck rams into bus stop near Glilot junction.
A truck deliberately crashed into a bus stop, injuring around 40 people, including 10 in serious condition.
Some victims were trapped under the truck. The terrorist was neutralized. pic.twitter.com/jIK9gM7YBW
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 27, 2024
“A natural response to the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people”
The attack was welcomed, with its announcement, by Hamas, speaking of a “heroic operation”, which took place near “the headquarters of the Mossad”. The Palestinian militant organization notes that the incident “is a natural response to the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation against our Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem.”
The police reported that, “a bus was dropping off passengers at a stop when a truck crashed into the bus and the passengers” and that “citizens shot the driver of the truck and neutralized him.” Five of the 32 injured, according to the emergency service, are in a serious condition.
At the same time, in a statement, the Israeli army said that a Palestinian was killed in the occupied West Bank while attempting to attack soldiers with a knife in Hizma, located north of Jerusalem. The man, according to the statement, “accelerated his car in the direction of the soldiers who were conducting an anti-terrorist operation in the Khizma area and then got out of his car holding a knife and tried to stab the soldiers, who killed him.”
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, incidents of violence have increased in the West Bank and Israel. At least 30 people in Israel have been killed in Palestinian attacks, according to Israeli figures. Among them military personnel. In the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed 744 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. At the same time, in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, 24 Israelis have lost their lives. Israel today is holding ceremonies for the first anniversary of the attack on October 7, 2023, according to the Jewish calendar.
How the terrorist attack took place
As the police pointed out, the driver of the truck was “neutralized”. “The initial data of the investigation shows that a bus had stopped at a stop to drop off passengers. Then a truck crashed into the bus and the passengers,” the same source explained.
“Citizens who were at the scene shot at the driver and neutralized him,” the police statement concluded. Images released by AFP showed several ambulances surrounding the flatbed truck, whose driver’s cab was damaged in the crash, as well as a large police force and at least one helicopter.
Israel is today holding ceremonies for the first Jewish anniversary since October 7, 2023, the day Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
Source: ethnos.gr
