A woman in her 70s was killed Monday and 17 other people were injured in twin attacks in the central Israeli city of Raanana, according to hospitals treating the victims.
Israeli police said two suspects stole vehicles and ran over a number of people in the city north of Tel Aviv, in what it called a “suspected hit-and-run terror attack.”
The suspects, who were from the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank and were related to each other, have been detained, police said.
A hospital outside Tel Aviv said it was treating seven children injured in the attacks.
A 16-year-old boy who suffered a serious head injury was in surgery, and six other children aged between 10 and 16 were in “mild to moderate” condition, according to Dr. Ron Barnett, director of the department of emergency medicine at the Schneider Center for Pediatrics.
The attacks came the day after Israel’s war against Hamas passed the 100-day mark.
Without claiming responsibility, Hamas said the attacks were “a natural response to the occupation’s massacres and its continued aggression against our Palestinian people” and called for more attacks against Israel.
Police said sweeps were still being conducted in the area to ensure there were no further threats.
The French Foreign Ministry said two French citizens were among the injured.
“We strongly condemn the terrorist attack which left at least one dead and 17 injured, including several children, today in Raanana. Nothing justifies terrorism,” the statement said. “Two young compatriots are among the injured.”
Tensions have been heightened in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.
Israeli settlers or soldiers have killed at least 340 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last month that 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the territory since it began keeping records in 2005.
This is a developing story and will be updated.