The normally bustling Rehov Bar- Lev in south Tel Aviv was eerily quiet on
Sunday morning, shortly after a
truck driver plowed through cars and rammed a
bus on the main street in this working class neighborhood.
The silence
was broken by the sounds of broken glass crunching under shoes, as policemen
analyzed the 20-ton truck that came to a stop outside of a school and cameramen
snapped shots of the scene.
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'unfortunate'Although police have stopped short of
declaring the incident to be a terror attack, local residents have no doubt that
the scenes of carnage they witnessed were caused deliberately.
One
eyewitness, 18-year-old Natalie, who lives in the area, told
The Jerusalem Post
she spotted the driver shortly before he hit the bus.
“He had a crazy
look in his eye. He drove in zigzags, deliberately running down
everything he saw,” she said.
“It was obvious it was deliberate,” Natalie
said. “He was looking at the road to see what was there, and then back down at
his wheel.”
A second woman, who asked not to be named, was visibly
traumatized after seeing the truck run over the vehicle belonging to Aviv Morag,
29, who was killed instantly.
“I was sitting in my car, waiting in
traffic, when this truck came out of nowhere and hit the car in front of me,”
Natalie said.
“I’m in shock. I saw the driver in the car slump over. I
remember he had brown jeans. Paramedics later came and declared him dead,” she
said.
“I was saved because I was reading these prayers,” said the woman,
holding up a small Chabad prayer book.