The victims were photographed stuck under the bumper of the vehicle, which was carrying a heavy load.

Rescue crews described it as “an extremely difficult scene” with firefighters needed to free one victim.

“When we arrived we saw a truck hit dozens of people who had gotten off a bus and were standing at the bus stop,” said Elior Yosef, of the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

“Eight victims were trapped under the truck and a number of other victims were either lying or walking near the truck.”

The victims, whose ages range from 30 to 82, were taken to seven hospitals along with the man who later succumbed to his injuries.

Most of the injured were passengers on a guided tour of the area on their way to a museum and to hear a lecture, who got off the bus, while others were injured when the truck plowed into it.

Asaf Hujah, a nearby business owner, told Haaretz that he saw the truck “charging toward the bus stop and hitting the back of the bus.”

“It was a chaotic scene and I called the police immediately,” he said, adding that the driver, who was injured, tried to attack two police officers who responded “so they shot him.”

One of the visitors on board told the newspaper that the passengers had got off the bus when “all of a sudden, boom – the truck just ran over our people. Everyone who was outside was injured.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, visited the scene with police commissioner Daniel Levy, where he said the incident was believed to be a terrorist attack.

“This incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack and should be treated as such. I fully support the police and civilians who neutralized the attacker,” Mr Ben-Gvir said.

Mr Levy added that “police are investigating the incident as a terrorist attack, but we are looking in all directions – and will make further announcements accordingly.”

The Glilot base is next to the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, and is also home to the Israel Defense Forces’ 8200 signals intelligence unit, Britain’s equivalent of GCHQ.

The base has been repeatedly targeted by Hezbollah missiles and was also one of the targets of Iran’s missile attacks in early October.