Tel Aviv attack: Seven injured in ‘car-ramming and stabbing attack’

A suspected Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing attack injured at least seven people in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, police have confirmed.

A medical official said the incident appeared to have included at least one stabbing victim, and that a suspected assailant had been “neutralised” by first-responders.

Initial reports said the number of people injured was 10.

We’ll have more on this breaking story as it comes in.

The UK is urging the Israeli Defence Forces to “demonstrate restraint, to adhere to the principles of international humanitarian law and to prioritise the protection of civilians”, a Foreign Office minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has said.

Labour and senior Conservative MPs have called on the Government to take action aimed at bringing the conflict in Israel to an end.

Shadow Foreign Office minister Wayne David told the Commons: “The only real solution will be a settlement based on two states, a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and independent Palestinian state.

“We strongly oppose actions which are making this two-state solution harder to achieve. So my question to the minister, my fundamental question, is what of substance is the minister and the Government doing to bring this immediate conflict to an end and lay the foundations for a two-state solution?”

Tory former minister Crispin Blunt said: “Understanding that this comes in the context of Israel building settlements that block the route to a settlement of this dispute, and understanding that Israel is failing to show restraint, failing to follow international humanitarian law, failing to protect civilians, what is the Government actually going to do?”

Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the UK had last week sent a co-ordinated message alongside Canada and Australia condemning illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, adding: “We will continue to work with our friends and allies to make that message clearly heard.”

A Labour MP has urged the foreign secretary to “immediately suspend” all arms sales to the Israel Defence Forces.

Asking an urgent question, Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter told the Commons: “The UK currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council and it is therefore responsible for guiding the response of the Security Council to requests made by the Palestinian authority. So can I please ask, what is the UK Government doing in its capacity as president of the UN Security Council?”

She went on: “Can the foreign secretary say what steps he will take to reveal whether the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has made any use of UK’s arms sold to Israel in this attack and will he immediately suspend all arms sales, including surveillance technology, and will he ban collaboration between the UK and Israel’s armed forces and military industries as a result of this horrific attack on civilians?”

Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan replied: “As I say, whilst the UK will always support Israel’s right to self-defence, the protection of civilians and particularly children must always be prioritised.”

Emergency services attended the scene of a car ramming after seven people were injured in an attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, 4 July. Holly Patrick reports:

MPs in the UK House of Commons are discussing Israel’s military operation in the West Bank.

Labour MP Beth Winter tabled an urgent question on the operation, in which 10 people have been killed.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a Foreign Office minister, said the government was doing “everything possible to de-escalate the situation”.

Israeli police have issued a statement with more details of the car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv.

Officers said the suspect was driving a vehicle travelling from south to north on Pinchas Rosen Street in Tel Aviv.

He then “rammed into pedestrians standing in the shopping centre and proceeded to get out of the vehicle to stab civilians with a sharp object”.

The victims were taken to the Beilinson and Ichilov hospitals, according to medical officials.

Members of Israeli security and emergency personnel work at the site of a reported car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv on July 4, 2023.

The suspected attack has resulted in injuries police and medics said, on the second day of a major Israeli army operation in the occupied West Bank.

Initial reports said 10 people had been injured. This has since been revised down to six.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has praised the car-ramming attack, describing it as “heroic”.

Spokesman Muhammad Hamadeh said in a statement the attack in Tel Aviv was part of “a natural response to the ongoing massacre of our people, and a legitimate self-defence against the [Israeli] occupation’s violation of all human norms”.

“The occupier must prepare to count his dead and injured, for the blood of our children is not cheap,” the statement added.