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A truck driver rams his vehicle into a crowd, injuring at least 40 people, before being shot dead.

A truck has rammed into a bus station north of Israel’s commercial center Tel Aviv, injuring at least 40 people, 10 of them seriously, officials say.

The incident happened Sunday at a bus stop near Israel’s Gillot military base, with rescuers saying several people were trapped under the truck.

Photos and videos on social media showed several people trapped under the truck as medics and rescuers tried to help. Police cordoned off the area and a security helicopter hovered overhead.

Police did not immediately say whether it was an intentional attack.

“At 10:08 a.m. (08:08 GMT), a report was received… of a truck hitting a bus stop on Aharon Yariv Boulevard in Ramat Hasharon… Paramedics are currently providing medical treatment at the scene for dozens of victims,” ​​Magen David said. Adom emergency service said in a statement.

The Jerusalem Post news website quoted police as saying that civilians at the scene shot the truck driver to stop him.

Abed Abou Shhade, a journalist from Jaffa, Israel, told Al Jazeera that the truck driver is believed to be a Palestinian national from north Tel Aviv.

“Civilians who witnessed the incident killed the driver as soon as they saw who he was,” he said.

“The police initially considered it a terrorist attack. But now they have changed their line saying the matter is still under investigation,” he added. “Everything is under speculation.”

Abou Shhade said that because of rising tensions in Israel, suspects in such attacks are automatically labeled “terrorists” if the incident involves people of Arab descent, even in cases where the circumstances are unclear.

The incident came as Israel marks the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, followed by Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the war in Lebanon.