A tourist was killed and 5 injured when a civilian vehicle hit pedestrians in the capital Tel Aviv yesterday evening.
In the first statement regarding the incident, which the Israeli police described as a “terrorist attack”, they shared the information that “a terrorist hit pedestrians on the walking path in Tel Aviv”.
It was noted in the statement that a nearby police officer “sees a car overturned and some people lying on the ground” after arriving at the scene due to the noise, and that “the driver in the vehicle tried to reach for his gun, and then the police officers neutralized the terrorist and killed him”.
Basing the incident on security sources, the Israeli press also shared the information that the attacker, who carried out the action with a “stolen vehicle”, was a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank.
All allegations collapsed one by one.
However, the official statement was completely changed after the images of the driver being shot and neutralized by the Israeli police were spread on social media.
The Israeli police changed the narrative in the statement they made the night before that “it was a terrorist attack and the attacker had a weapon”. Tel Aviv Police Chief Ami Eshed said they were considering “the possibility that the incident was not a terrorist attack”.
Police sources, who shared the driver’s name as Yusuf Abu Jabir, confirmed that the person in question was not associated with a Palestinian political or armed group.
Then it was announced that the vehicle was not stolen, but registered to Abu Jabir’s wife.