Seven people were injured after a car driver rammed into pedestrians near a Tel Aviv shopping center and then got out of the vehicle to stab civilians, Israeli police said Tuesday. A spokesperson described the car ramming as a "terror attack," and told CNN the driver was killed by an armed civilian. One of the injured, a 46-year-old woman, is in serious condition, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. The ramming occurred on Pinchas Rosen Street in Northern Tel Aviv. Hamas praised the attack, a statement by the militant group's spokesman Abdel Latif Al-Kanoa said. Hamas did not directly claim responsibility for the attack. "The heroic operation of Tel Aviv is the beginning of the response to the aggression of the Zionist occupation on Jenin," Al-Kanoa said. "The occupation will pay the price for its crime against the people in Jenin camp," Hazem Qasem, a Hamas spokesperson, said in a statement. Qasem's comment came after Israeli authorities said that a motorist caused six casualties in a ramming in Tel Aviv after carrying out a suspected stabbing attack. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group's Khaled Al-Batsh says the attack in Tel Aviv "is the first response of the resistance to what is happening in Jenin." The motorist was "neutralised" at the scene by a civilian first-responder, the Israeli police spokesperson told Israel's Army Radio. Hamas has said that "the criminal and terrorist acts" perpetrated by the Israeli government in Jenin, the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza "constitute a brutal assault on the Palestinian cause". In a statement, spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou called for "decisive action" from the Palestinian Authority (PA), including "severing ties with the leaders of the occupation, ending security coordination, and terminating all signed agreements". Hamas governs the Gaza Strip and has a military arm that has entered into many military escalations with Israel. It split with the Fatah-ruled PA that governs parts of the West Bank in 2006; the two largest Palestinian political parties remain plagued by division. He also urged the adoption of "firm political measures that match the scale of the crimes committed by Israeli government and isolate the occupying entity". "The ongoing aggression in Jenin for the second consecutive day, coupled with the deliberate targeting of civilians, amounts to 'undeniable war crimes' committed by the occupation army and its fascist government," the statement added. UN agencies have raised concerns over the scale of Israel's assault in Jenin, adding that first aid responders have been prevented from reaching critically injured people. "We are alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and air strikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp," Vanessa Huguenin, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, told a briefing. She said three children were among those killed, without providing details. "First responders have been prevented from entering the (Jenin) refugee camp, including to reach persons who have been critically injured," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, referring to restrictions put in place by Israeli forces. — Agencies
