One person has succumbed to his injuries and almost 40 others are injured after a terrorist rammed a truck into a bystanders at a bus stop near Tel Aviv.
By Ben Rappaport, United with Israel
Israel’s Ichilov Hospital on Sunday afternoon said that one of those injured in the mass-casualty ramming attack Sunday morning in central Israel had succumbed to his injuries.
Dozens of people on Sunday morning were injured to varying degrees of severity when a truck rammed into a bus stop near Glilot Cinema City, north of Tel Aviv.
At least 37 people were reported injured, with 5 suffering serious injuries, 6 with moderate injuries, and 22 light injuries. 4 others suffered from trauma.
According to Israel’s Channel 14, the truck driver was identified as Rami Natur, an Arab Israeli resident of Qalansuwa in Samaria.
An initial police investigation found that a bus had stopped at the station to let off passengers near the Glilot base when a truck arrived at the scene, ramming into the bus and those waiting at the station.
According to Channel 14, civilians at the scene opened fire at the truck driver, neutralizing him.
Medical teams that arrived at the scene declared a mass casualty incident.
“We arrived at the scene where a truck had crashed into people at a bus station. A number of people were lying under the bus, and a number of other people were injured and lying next to it,” medics recounted, according to Channel 14. “We immediately administered medical treatment and evacuated them to hospitals.”
An eyewitness identified as Asaf recounted to Israel National News, “I arrived at the restaurant, I was just opening the place and took out chairs outside. I heard a loud boom, turned around, saw a truck swerving toward the hitchhiking post and immediately shouted, ‘attack!’ I realized it was an attack because there are always soldiers at this station.”
“I came to the scene, saw the truck crushed on the bus. The truck driver was still alive, his head was resting on the steering wheel. At some point, I saw him lift his head and look outside.”
“I went to see what was happening and saw a pile of people trapped under the bus,” Asaf continued. “It’s a scene that’s hard to comprehend. I immediately called the police and shouted that there had been an attack. Afterwards, security forces arrived, tried to interrogate the truck driver and in the process, he stabbed at the policemen – they got off [the truck] and fired three shots.”
Lior, a paramedic, said according to Israel National News, “We arrived at the scene a few minutes after we received a report from the Magen David Adom emergency response hotline about an attack. We saw dozens of injured people lying under the wheels of the truck and the bus. Our medics immediately evacuated from under the bus the injured people, who suffered varying degrees of injury. They received life-saving treatment and were evacuated to the hospital.”