A truck driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of people at a bus stop in central Israel on Sunday, injuring at least 24 people before he was ‘shot and neutralised’ in what is believed to have been a terror attack, police said.
At least 24 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, without clarifying whether it was an attack.
At least six people are believed to have been seriously injured, with many Israeli news outlet reporting that people were trapped in and around the wreck. Five are in a moderate condition and 20 in mild condition. Additionally, four people have been treated for anxiety.
Footage from Glilot appears to show several people, including elderly Israelis, trapped by the metal front of the white truck.
The force said civilians at the site of the incident ‘shot the truck driver and neutralised him’, with a spokesperson adding that cops are treating the incident as a terror attack.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that many of the injured civilians were elderly people who had disembarked a bus ahead of a visit to an IDF base nearby.
Preliminary police findings showed the driver also hit a bus that had stopped at the same location to drop off passengers, the police said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday the Magen David Adom emergency service said the incident occurred at Aharon Yariv Boulevard in Ramat HaSharon, north of the commercial hub Tel Aviv.
Of those injured, at least 16 people had been 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 injured and a helicopter hovered above.
Highway 5 was closed to traffic, with Israeli cops asking drivers to use alternative routes and to avoid the area.
Politicians, including Israel’s minister for national security Itamar Ben-Gvir, have already flocked to the scene of the incident.
The incident comes as Israel holds ceremonies to mark the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
More to follow.