Betzalel Carmi, 72, was from Rishon Lezion in central Israel. Police have not yet classified the incident as a terrorist attack.
By JNS
The man killed in Sunday’s truck-ramming incident at a bus stop at the Glilot Interchange north of Tel Aviv, close to a sensitive military base, has been identified as Betzalel Carmi, 72, from Rishon Lezion.
Carmi was evacuated to Ichilov Hospital in nearby Tel Aviv in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.
Thirty-nine others were injured in the incident.
This is 72-year-old Bezalel Carmi, this morning a terrorist with a truck ran him over and murdered him. May his memory be forever a blessing. pic.twitter.com/0gPxnsxQVj
— נועה מגיד | Noa magid (@NoaMagid) October 27, 2024
Many of the injured are still receiving medical treatment, including four in serious condition and four others who were moderately hurt.
Police are still investigating the circumstances of the incident and have not yet classified it as a terrorist attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed on Sunday that “it is still being determined whether this was a terrorist attack.”
The truck driver, an Israeli citizen and resident of the central Arab-Muslim city of Qalansawe, crashed into a bus full of retirees who had just gotten off an intercity tourist coach shortly after 10 a.m. local time. They had arrived at the IDF Glilot base to mark the national day of mourning for the victims of the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.
The driver accelerated as he approached the bus, and several people were trapped under the truck and had to be rescued before being evacuated to hospital.
At the time of the attack, a Command and Staff course was underway at the base, and officers in civilian clothing exited the base and confronted the truck driver, who reportedly attempted to exit the truck and attack officers before being shot and killed.
The driver’s body has been sent for an autopsy.
A woman at the scene described the events to Channel 12:
“We got off the bus at the entrance of Camp Chaim Herzog. The truck came at full force and struck us. We managed to escape, but others were trapped under the truck—retirees who were caught underneath.”
The Glilot area is home to Mossad headquarters and several IDF intelligence units, including the elite Unit 8200, which Hezbollah has targeted several times over the past year.