Four soldiers were killed and 16 wounded after a flatbed truck driven by an Arab terrorist rammed into a group of soldiers adjacent to the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon.
Three female soldiers and one male soldier, all in their early 20s, were declared dead at the scene, which was called a mass-casualty incident.
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According to Yossi Fraenkel, deputy commander of ZAKA in Jerusalem, 11 of the wounded are in light condition, four are in either serious or moderate condition, and one is in critical condition.
All victims were evacuated to different area hospitals.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the scene with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, said the terrorist was identified as Fadi al-Qanbar, from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, long a hotbed of incitement and violence.
“We know the identity of the attacker, and according to all the signs, he is a supporter of Islamic State,” Netanyahu said.
He added that there may be a connection between this attack and similar attacks recently in France and Berlin.
“We are fighting this plague, and will defeat it,” Netanyahu said, noting that Jabel Mukaber has been cordoned off, and that “we are taking other actions that I will not detail here.”
“We will overcome this terror, just as we overcame other attacks,” he said. “There are a number of actions that we will not specify at this time, which we will have to take to ensure that incidents such as these do not recur.”
Soon after visiting the site, Netanyahu was scheduled to convene a meeting of the security cabinet.
Magen David Adom spokesman Elli Zenilman said the first-responders received a call reporting the attack at approximately 1:30 p.m.
“Ambulances and intensive care units of Magen David Adom were immediately dispatched,” said Zenilman, a few meters from the carnage, cordoned-off by police.
“When we arrived at the scene, we saw something that was horrifying – young adults lying on the street in the area of the attack.”
MDA paramedic Landy Sharon said he saw a truck that hit a group of young people that got off a bus near the Armon Hanatziv observation post.
“About 10 people were lying on the ground near the street,” he said. “Some of them were trapped under the truck.”
ZAKA Jerusalem Commander Bentzi Oering described the scene as reminiscent of a battlefield.
“This is a very difficult attack,” he said. “I arrived with other ZAKA volunteers and the scene looked like a battlefield. Many injured lay on the grass, some of them were still trapped under the terrorist’s truck.”
ZAKA Jerusalem Operations Commander Meir Akar said a crane from the firefighters was used to lift the front part of truck to free those trapped underneath.
“Tragically, they were no longer alive,” he said.
“A team from the forensics department of the Israel Police and ZAKA carried out the initial identification of the dead. ZAKA then removed the bodies of the four victims and the terrorist. Another ZAKA team remains at the scene to clear the significant amount of blood and remains to bring them to burial.”
The truck’s windshield was riddled with bullet holes, as dozens of first-responders, police and fire-rescue personnel secured the scene and completely closed off traffic on the main thoroughfare next to the popular promenade.
Speaking to the press minutes after the attack, Police Commissioner, Insp.- Gen. Roni Alsheich, said al-Qanbar had a valid Israeli driver’s license and plate.
Alsheich added that there was no prior warning of the attack, but that police have set up checkpoints in Jabel Mukaber and heightened security throughout the capital.
זירת פיגוע הדריסה בארמון הנציב, לפני זמן קצר pic.twitter.com/us4XJsGoW3
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) January 8, 2017
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat spoke during an impromptu press conference to dozens of reporters.
“To our dismay, there is no limit to the cruelty of the terrorists who are willing to use any means possible to murder Jews and to damage the life routine of Israel’s capital,” said Barkat.
“Those who incite and fan the flames of terror must pay a heavy price,” he added. “I call the residents of Jerusalem and the country at large to be alert, and despite this hard terror attack, to carry on in your daily routines, and do not let terror win.”
On Twitter, Hamas lauded the attack as “heroic,” although did not take credit.
“The truck operation in Jerusalem affirms that all attempts to encircle the [Palestinian] intifada will fail,” the Palestinian terrorist group wrote.
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