Sao Paulo
One person died and at least 17 were injured in attacks in the central region of Israel this Monday (15). Authorities said the two suspects, Palestinians and residents of the occupied West Bank, entered Israeli territory illegally.
The attack occurred in the city of Ra'anana, 20 km from Tel Aviv, at around 1:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. in Brasília). According to police, the criminals stole a car and ran over pedestrians in three locations. They even stabbed civilians. The suspects live in the Hebron region of the West Bank and were arrested by police after the attack.
Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba reported that a woman aged around 70 arrived at the ward in serious condition and died despite resuscitation measures. In an initial report, emergency services said that at least 13 other people had been run over and two of them were in serious condition. The number of injured later rose to 17.
According to The Times of Israel, at least seven children and teenagers were hit. A 16yearold teenager underwent surgery, sedation and intubation for a head injury.
Avi Bitton, police commander, described the case as a “very serious terrorist attack” and said intelligence was not ruling out the involvement of other people. Dozens of police patrolled and searched the Ra'anana region following the crimes.
The suspects were Mahmoud Zidat (44) and his nephew Ahmed Zidat (25). According to a preliminary police investigation reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the suspect stabbed a woman and took control of her car. The suspect lost control of the vehicle after running over the first victim, but still managed to steal another car with which he continued to run over pedestrians.
A report from Tel Aviv said tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories have increased since the October 7 Hamas attack in which terrorists killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200, most of them civilians, on Israeli territory.
In response, Israel declared war and carried out daily bombings that devastated large swathes of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 24,000 people and forcing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes, according to the local health ministry. A “total blockade” imposed by Tel Aviv limited supplies of food, fuel and medicine to the territory.