Police say indications suggest deadly truck ramming in Glilot was a terror attack

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Emergency services at the scene of a suspected truck ramming attack in Glilot, north of Tel Aviv on October 27, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Emergency services at the scene of a suspected truck ramming attack in Glilot, north of Tel Aviv on October 27, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Police say that the ongoing investigation of Sunday’s truck-ramming in central Israel “strengthens the suspicion” that the incident was a terror attack.

In the incident, a resident of Qalansawe rammed his truck into people at a bus stop outside the IDF’s Glilot base, killing an elderly man and wounding 35 other civilians.

According to police, a police officer who was near the scene jumped into the driver’s cabin immediately following the attack, where he was attacked by the driver.

The police officer fell out of the driver’s cabin and fired shots in the air. Soldiers who were also near the scene identified the incident and shot the driver dead, according to the police investigation.

Police say that its investigation found that the truck diverted toward the civilians at the bus stop, and the driver made no attempt to brake, but rather he accelerated.

“It can be said that the suspicion is growing that the ramming that hit the civilians was carried out with a nationalistic motive,” police say.

Police add that an initial autopsy of the suspect’s body found “no suspicion of a medical incident,” something suggested by his family members.

Police release videos showing the ramming from surveillance cameras and footage from the bodycam of the officer who tried to confront the driver.

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