Another witness told Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “I saw someone stab three people next to the mall, steal a car and run people over with it.”
The attack unfolded in Ra’anana, an affluent city in central Israel near Tel Aviv, which counts Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, among its residents.
The first suspect was quickly arrested by Israeli police, with the second apprehended a short time later.
The two attackers were named in Israeli media reports as Ahmed Zidat, 25, and Mahmoud Zidad, 44, two relatives from the Hebron area of the southern West Bank.
Both men were known to the Israeli security services for repeatedly crossing into Israel illegally, according to the Shin Bet security agency, which was still interrogating the pair as of Monday evening.
A 16-year-old boy was seriously injured in the attack and was due to go into surgery for head trauma. Six other children, aged between 10 and 16, were also injured in the attack but did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
‘Multi-staged event’
An Israeli police spokesman described the attack as a “multi-staged event” in which the suspects switched vehicles three times.
“Central district police officers are sweeping the attack scenes and its surroundings to ensure no further threats,” they added.
Car-ramming attacks are common in Israel and are usually carried out by members, or supporters, of the Islamist groups Hamas, as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
After the attack in Ra’anana, Israeli troops launched a rare daytime raid on Hebron, possibly in search of other suspects.
The Palestinian health ministry said a 22-year-old was killed during the raid in the city of Dura, near Hebron, and that 10 other people were injured.
It comes after Hamas launched a shooting attack on a busy Jerusalem bus station in December, which killed three Israelis.
Two women, 24 and 65, and a man, 72, were shot dead, when the attackers, two brothers from East Jerusalem, got out of their car and opened fire, using an assault rifle and a handgun.
