A car explosion caused by a grenade in central Israel’s Ramle on Thursday afternoon injured 10 people, four of whom later died at the hospital.
Israeli police have launched an investigation into the blast, which may be linked to ongoing conflicts between Arab criminal gangs.
Fire and rescue services saved a woman and her two-month-old baby from a shop that caught fire due to the explosion. A 15-year-old girl was also knocked unconscious by the blast.
Ramle has recently experienced a surge in criminal violence, including two murders in shooting attacks on Wednesday night. Authorities have not yet determined if these shootings are connected to today’s car bombing.
Central District Commander Lt.-Gen. Avi Bitton arrived at the scene to assess the situation.
According to a spokesperson for the Israel Fire Brigade, “At the site of the car explosion in Ramle, there was a person trapped, and two shops were on fire. A two-month-old baby and their mother were rescued from one of the burning shops and taken to medical officials for treatment. A 15-year-old girl was knocked unconscious. In total, five people were rescued from the shops, all unconscious. The Ayalon station commander is at the scene.”
The bombing adds to a pattern of significant criminal violence in Ramle over the past week, which has seen several murders and violent incidents this year.
On Wednesday night, Hani al-Afifi, a 40-year-old Israeli-Arab, was shot and later died at Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Be’er Yaakov. Hours later, Tani Abu Dia, a 40-year-old Israeli-Arab woman, was found dead in a vehicle in an open area, also having been shot.
Last Thursday, Mahmoud Ali Abu Ghanem was killed in a car explosion near a kindergarten in Ramle’s city center. The explosion, captured on footage, was deemed a criminal assassination.
Five days earlier, Duaa Abu Zeid, a young Israeli-Arab woman in her 20s, was killed in a shooting on Masada Street in Ramle.
In response to the rising violence, Ramle Mayor Michael Vidal has urged National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to address the escalating criminal activity.