A truck rammed into a crowd of soldiers on a popular promenade in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding 15 others, officials said, in an attack that the prime minister said was carried out by a supporter of ISIS.
Magen David Adom ambulance service said four soldiers — three women and a man — had been pronounced dead. One severely wounded person was evacuated to a hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces identified the four as: Yael Yakotiel, 20, of Givatyim; Shir Hagag, 22, of Ma'ale Adumin; Shira Tzur, 20, from Haifa; and Erez Orbach, 20, of Alon Shvut.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the scene that authorities knew the identity of the attacker, and "as much as we know, he is a supporter of the Islamic State."
Israel's national police chief, Roni Alsheikh, told reporters that the truck was driven by "an east Jerusalem Palestinian" who was killed by other soldiers after the attack. Pictures from the scene showed the truck's windscreen pockmarked with several bullet holes.
A police spokesman described the incident, at the Armon Hanatziv promenade, which overlooks Jerusalem’s Old Walled City, as "a terrorist attack," although an investigation remains ongoing.
Security camera video shown on Israeli Channel 2 TV showed the truck barreling at a high speed off the road and into the crowd of people. The truck is seen backing up quickly, apparently trying to crush more people, before the driver is shot dead.
"There was no sense in that reverse," Leah Schreiber, a witness, told reporters. "He drove backward to crush more people. That was really clear."
MDA paramedic Chen Lendi Sharon, who was first on the scene, said: "When we arrived, there was chaos. I saw a truck that rammed youngsters getting off the bus next to the Armon Hanatziv view point. On the grass near the road, [there] lay 10 trapped individuals."
The White House National Security Council said in a statement that the United States "condemns in the strongest terms today's horrific terrorist attack in Jerusalem."
"Such cowardly acts can never be justified, and we call on all to send a clear and unequivocal message that terrorism must never be tolerated," NSC spokesman Ned Price said in the statement.
Since last year, Palestinian attackers have killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans in a series of mostly stabbing attacks. During that time, 229 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were attackers, while the rest died in clashes.
