TEL AVIV — Israel’s emergency services are treating dozens of casualties after a truck rammed into a bus as it was dropping of passengers at a bus stop near Glilot military base north of Tel Aviv on Sunday morning.
A spokesperson for Israel’s police force said a preliminary investigation indicated that the truck collided with passengers as well as the bus.
Civilians at the scene “shot at the truck driver and neutralized him,” Israeli police said.
The circumstances of the crash remain under investigation, and Israeli police have not indicated whether they are treating the incident as a suspected terror attack or a traffic accident.
However, Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a “natural response” to Israel’s actions in “Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.”
A video geolocated by NBC News shows the immediate aftermath of the rescue operation, being narrated in Hebrew by a panicked woman who said she was on the bus that was rammed.
“We are at Haim Hertzog base, a truck came with full power, hit us,” she said. We managed to escape, there are some of our people trapped, senior citizens trapped.” In the video several people could be seen pinned beneath the truck, with some responsive to rescue workers.
“You can’t understand what’s going on here,” she said. “God, god, I can’t look at this.”
Ronit Glazer, of Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical services, described a chaotic scene in a video posted X, as responders received a call of a “mass casualty event” near Glilot Junction.
MDA EMTs and Paramedics are treating and evacuating 10 injured people to Beilinson and Ichilov hospitals. Among the injured: 4 in serious condition, 2 in moderate condition, and 4 in mild condition. MDA teams are also treating multiple other casualties on-site. Updates to follow. pic.twitter.com/nGGv5Q3AcN
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) October 27, 2024
She said MDA sent “care units, ambulances, motorcycles, first responders, paramedics and EMTs” to the scene.
MDA EMTs and Paramedics are providing medical treatment and evacuating to nearby hospitals. It said that a total of 35 people were injured, including 6 serious condition, 5 moderate condition and 20 in a mild condition. Four are suffering from anxiety.
United Hatzalah, a volunteer emergency services, said “a large number of pedestrians” were involved, and that people remained trapped under the truck 30 minutes after the incident.
In a separate incident later on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said “a terrorist accelerated with his vehicle toward IDF soldiers who were conducting a counterterrorism activity” in the village of Hizma, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
It said the person pulled a knife from his vehicle and “attempted to carry out a stabbing attack,” but was killed by the soldiers.
It said no IDF injuries were reported.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates. Yarden Segev reported from Tel Aviv, and Freddie Clayton from London.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
