Palestinian man arrested after he stabbed 11 people in Tel Aviv

A Palestinian man stabbed 11 people on and near a bus in central Tel Aviv, seriously wounding three of them before he was shot and arrested by Israeli police.

Police described the assault as a “terrorist attack,” and the Islamic militant group Hamas praised it. It appeared to be the latest in a series of “lone-wolf” attacks in which Palestinians have killed and wounded Israelis using knives, acid and vehicles, citing tensions surrounding a disputed Jerusalem holy site.

The man, who was riding the bus with the other passengers, began stabbing people, including the driver, then managed to get out of the bus and run away from the scene, stabbing a woman in the back on his way.

Officers from a prison service, who happened to be nearby, saw the bus swerving out of control and a man running away. They gave chase, shot the man in the leg, wounding him lightly, and arrested him.

“He had murder in his eyes,” a bus passenger who gave her name as Orly, told Israel Radio.

Eleven people were stabbed and three remain in critical condition, according to Lee Gat, a spokeswoman at Tel Hashomer hospital, and a statement from the Ichilov hospital. Police earlier said nine people had been stabbed, citing initial numbers giving by paramedics at the scene.

Video aired by Israel’s Channel 10 TV showed the attacker running in the street and stabbing a woman in the back as he tried to escape. Police confirmed that the attacker stabbed a woman as he attempted to flee.

Police identified the assailant as 23-year-old West Bank resident Hamza Mohammed Matroukh, a Palestinian who had entered Israel illegally.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Matroukh was in custody and undergoing questioning. Police said he confessed to the stabbing, saying he carried it out in response to last year’s Gaza war and tensions surrounding a Jerusalem site holy to Jews and Muslims.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, did not claim responsibility but praised yesterday’s attack as “brave and heroic” in a tweet by Izzat Risheq, a Hamas leader residing in Qatar.