One Dead, 35 Injured In Suspected Terror Truck-Ramming Near Mossad Headquarters
An area north of Tel Aviv was scene of a Sunday morning incident being dubbed in Israeli media a "terror truck-ramming attack" at a bus stop, which left one person dead and at least 32 wounded. Subsequent reports said that 35 were injured, with five in serious condition.
The perpetrator and only deceased has been identified as Rami Nasrallah, an Arab Israeli driver who lives in Qalansawe, in central Israel. However, there remains some ambiguity over whether it was an intentional 'terror attack' or possibly the result of a horrific accident.
The event is still under investigation, with the Times of Israel reporting of the deceased bus driver that "His body was sent to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for an autopsy to check if he suffered a medical condition that caused the accident."
Suspicion has widely fall on the intentional attack theory, given it happened just outside the well-known Glilot military base in central Israel, and in a location near the Mossad headquarters and several IDF intelligence units.
Additionally, police said that that the suspect was "shot and neutralized" at the scene, while still not saying necessarily that it was an attack.
A lot of the injured were senior citizens who had just stepped off a bus at the moment the bus was rammed. They were planning to attend a museum exhibit memorializing the fallen of the Oct.7 Hamas terror attack.
While not directly taking responsibility for the apparent terror incident, Hamas praised the "heroic ramming attack" that was carried out near "Mossad headquarters."
The group described that it was "a natural response to the crimes of the Zionist occupation against our Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, and its ongoing brutal massacres, especially in the northern Gaza Strip."
Truck ramming attack near Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/hxVYToM1YB
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) October 27, 2024
"Photos and videos on social media showed several people pinned down under the truck as medics and rescuers tried to help," Al Jazeera has described of the gruesome scene. Police cordoned off the area and a security helicopter hovered above.
A number of the injured were witnessed lying on a sidewalk near the truck. One source said that armed civilians may have shot the driver as it was clear he was about to ram people. Another eyewitness saw eight people "trapped under the truck."