One dead and dozens wounded after truck rams 'crowded' bus stop in Tel Aviv in suspected terror attack

27 October 2024, 10:01 | Updated: 27 October 2024, 15:19

One man has died and dozens of people have been injured after a truck rammed into a bus stop in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Six people were left in a serious condition after the incident, which took place near the headquarters of Mossad in Glilot north of Tel Aviv, authorities said. At least one of those was left fighting for his life.

Some 33 are thought to have been injured overall, with some people trapped under the truck.

Armed civilians are said to have shot and "neutralised" the driver.

The incident was a suspected to be a terror attack. Palestinians have carried out dozens of vehicle-ramming attacks over the years.

Many of the people who were injured were elderly and were on a trip to a local museum. Others were soldiers returning to base.

Journalist Noga Tarnopolsky told LBC that the attack seemed to have been carefully planned.

"Sunday morning was a very particular time because all of the soldiers who were on leave for the weekend head back to their bases," she said.

An eyewitness described seeing "a pile of people crushed under the truck".

"It was a difficult scene, and I immediately called the police," he told local outlet Haaretz.

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It comes after Israeli strikes on northern Gaza killed at least 22 people, according to Palestinian medical officials.

The Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service said 11 women and two children were among those killed in the strikes late on Saturday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

It said another 15 people were injured and that the death toll could rise.

The IDF said it carried out a precise strike on militants in a structure and took steps to avoid harming civilians.

It disputed what it said were "numbers published by the media".

Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled to Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement in the yearlong war.

Israel is carrying out daily strikes across Gaza, even as it wages war with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday said ongoing Israeli evacuation orders and restrictions on the entry of essential supplies to the north had left the civilian population in "horrific circumstances".

"Many civilians are currently unable to move, trapped by fighting, destruction or physical constraint and now lack access to even basic medical care," it said.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked Iran - which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah - in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

The cascading conflicts have raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which also include the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.

Israel says its strikes on Gaza only target militants and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in densely populated areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.