Eight in hospital after bus terror attack, including three seriously hurt; terrorist says he did it for Gaza, Temple Mount
Eight people were still in hospital on Wednesday morning, hours after a Palestinian man stabbed commuters on a Tel Aviv bus and passersby in the street during rush hour, including three who were left in serious condition.
Four people were in moderate condition and two sustained minor injuries. Seventeen people were injured overall, a police spokesman said, labeling the incident a terror attack.
The attacker was identified as Hamza Matrouk, 23, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Tulkarem. He was shot after a short chase, during which he continued to stab people on the street, and taken into police custody.
Matrouk was in Israel illegally. In an initial interrogation, Matrouk claimed that the terror attack was motivated by the Israel-Hamas war last summer, and recent tensions surrounding the Temple Mount.
A video uploaded to the internet shortly after the attack appears to show part of Wednesday’s stabbing. A number of people can be seen fleeing down the street when, from the left side of the screen, the attacker can be discerned racing after a woman in a blue jacket, whom he stabs in the back before running off down the street.
WARNING: Graphic content.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed incitement against Israel by the Palestinian Authority, and its head Mahmoud Abbas, for the attack. Hamas praised the attack as heroic. Caricatures approving of the attack emerged on Hamas-affiliated news websites.
The Gaza-based Safa news agency published an image of a knife painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag dripping blood and a tarnished Israeli flag in the background, with the caption “Good morning Palestine.”
Hamza Martouk. (Screen capture: Channel 2)
The attack occurred at about 7:30 a.m. on a No. 40 bus heading north through the city from Bat Yam.
The attacker first stabbed the bus driver, Herzl Biton — who attempted to fight back, including using pepper spray — before attacking others as passengers attempted to escape the scene. Biton was among those seriously injured.
Officers from a prison service who happened to be nearby and saw the bus swerving out of control and a man running away, gave chase and shot the man in the leg, wounding him lightly, and subsequently arrested him.
The incident occurred at the Maariv Bridge, which spans a main artery in the city and was packed with rush hour traffic at the time.
The suspected attacker in a Tel Aviv stabbing attack on January 21, 2015. (Screen capture: Channel 2)
The suspected attacker in a Tel Aviv stabbing attack on January 21, 2015. (Screen capture: Channel 2)
Photographs from the scene that were posted to the Internet showed the attacker lying on the ground in handcuffs.
A video emerged of the suspected attacker after he was shot by officers.
WARNING: Graphic content
