One person was killed and 17 were injured in a “multiple car-ramming attack” in Ra’anana on Monday, according to multiple reports, after two Palestinian men allegedly stole cars and drove them in the city north of Tel Aviv.
Israeli emergency personnel work next to a damaged car following a ramming attack in Ra'anana. ... [+]
On Monday, the two suspects allegedly “stole vehicles and ran over a number of citizens in different places” in Ra’anana, a suburb of Tel Aviv, using three vehicles, Israeli police said in a post on X.
One woman in her 70s was killed during the incident, which police are investigating as a terrorist attack, and 17 were injured, two of whom are “in serious condition,” the New York Times reported.
Both of the suspects, who Israeli police said are residents of Hebron—a Palestinian city in the West Bank—“entered Israel illegally” and were in custody.
A Hamas spokesperson expressed approval of the attack to BBC, saying it was “a natural response to the occupation's massacres and its continued aggression against our Palestinian people.”
- That’s how many days Israel and Hamas, a Gaza-based militant group, have been at war.
Hamas and Israel have been at war since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,300 people and taking around 240 as hostages. Since that initial attack, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza estimates that more than 24,000 Palestinians have died. Israel has faced international criticism around the level of its attacks on Gazans, particularly civilians, with South Africa accusing Israel of genocide late last month. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the genocide accusation “meritless,” though he did say “more needs to be done to protect innocent civilians” in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Western leaders and the United Nations have continued to call for another break in fighting after Israel and Hamas had a temporary truce in November in which fighting paused and hostages were returned.