Hamas praised the attack as a “heroic” response to the IDF’s Jenin operation.
By JNS
A Palestinian terrorist drove his car into pedestrians at a bus stop on Pinchas Rosen Street in Tel Aviv’s northeastern Ramat Hahayal neighborhood on Tuesday.
He then got out of the vehicle and stabbed additional victims with a sharp object, police said. There were seven victims in total.
Three of the victims are in serious condition, including a pregnant woman listed in very serious condition. Two are moderately wounded and two are lightly injured.
Magen David Adom emergency medical responders took four of the injured to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and the others to Beilinson Medical Center in Petach Tikva.
An armed civilian killed the terrorist, police said.
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai toured the scene of the attack and said that security forces had detained several people connected to the terrorist.
Hebrew media initially identified the terrorist as 23-year-old Hasin Halilah from the Palestinian village of Samua, near Hebron in Judea. He reportedly entered Israel using a valid permit issued for medical reasons.
It subsequently emerged that the terrorist was actually Hasin’s 20-year-old brother Abed Halilah, who was in Israel illegally.
Hamas said that Halilah was a member of the Gaza-based terror group and praised the attack as a “heroic” response to Israel’s military operation in Jenin. However, the organization stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attack would not break the country’s resolve to combat terrorism.
“Whoever thinks that such an attack will deter us from continuing our fight against terrorism is wrong. He simply does not know the spirit of the State of Israel, does not know our government, our citizens and our fighters,” Netanyahu remarked during a visit to the Salem crossing in northern Samaria where he received an update on the IDF’s Jenin counterterror operation.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir hailed the civilian who shot and killed the terrorist.
“I congratulate the brave citizen who neutralized the terrorist, prevented the continuation of the incident and saved lives. This once again proves the importance and effectiveness of citizens carrying weapons,” said Ben-Gvir.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged the country to unite in the face of Palestinian terrorism.
“Our enemies want to hurt us in Tel Aviv, in Eli and everywhere in the Land of Israel, and we need to show unity against them,” he said, referring to the June 20 attack in the Samaria town that killed four people.
Likud lawmaker Danny Danon said: “The wave of terror requires us to increase the activity against the terrorists. The Security Cabinet must immediately decide on decisive actions against wherever threats emanate. Only crushing the terrorist infrastructure will stop the terrible attacks.”
On Monday, a 14-year-old Palestinian stabbed an Israeli man in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.
The victim was evacuated in moderate condition to Maayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in the city, which is located east of Tel Aviv.
The Palestinian terrorist was arrested at the scene.
Earlier Monday, the Israel Defense Forces began a major counterterror operation in Jenin, including the entry into the Samaria city of significant ground forces.
The operation was widely anticipated as Palestinian attacks mounted in northern Samaria. Since the beginning of 2023, terrorists have killed 28 people in Israel.
The Hamas terrorist group praised Tuesday’s “heroic” attack in Tel Aviv, calling it “revenge for [the IDF mission in]Jenin.”