July 4 (UPI) -- At least eight Israelis were wounded in a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, which Palestinian militants claimed was in response to an ongoing large-scale Israeli military operation in the West Bank.
The Israeli Defense Forces, meanwhile, said Tuesday its assault on targets in the city of Jenin was progressing quickly and could wrap up in a matter of days. Palestinian officials said 10 residents had died in the two days since the military operation focusing on refugee camps began.
The Hamas militant organization claimed responsibility for the attack in Tel Aviv, in which police said a suspect who was driving a vehicle on Pinchas Rosen Street intentionally hit pedestrians standing in a commercial area, then got out of the vehicle and began stabbing others with a sharp object.
Israel National Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told i24 News the scene of the attack was "horrendous" and that it could have been much worse had there not been an armed civilian at the scene who managed to "neutralize" the suspect.
The civilian "prevented the terrorist from running into more buildings, from running into more stores and harming more civilians," Elsdunne said. "We need more people who are trained and licensed to carry firearms."
Of the eight injured, three were hospitalized in serious condition with multiple injuries at Beilinson Hospital in Tel Aviv, officials told The Jerusalem Post. Their ages were listed as 30, 66, and 76.
Authorities said initial investigations revealed the attacker, identified by the Shin Bet intelligence service as Abed al-Wahab Khalaila, was a Palestinian resident of the Hebron region in the West Bank and acted alone in the incident.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed Khalaila as a member and took responsibility for the attack in a statement issued to media outlets.
"The heroic action in Tel Aviv is the first response to Israel's crimes against our people in the Jenin refugee camp," the group's spokesman said. "As the [Palestinian] resistance has already put it -- Israel will pay the price for its crimes."
Earlier Tuesday, IDF officials said the military operation in Jenin was progressing quickly as United Nations officials voiced serious concerns for residents.
IDF Chief Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said an in a media update that military forces had preselected many of their targets and has been successful in attacking them, making it possible the operation could end "in a matter of days."
Some 120 "terrorists" have been arrested, he said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said Friday it is "deeply concerned by the impact of the ongoing Israeli army military assault in the densely populated Jenin refugee camp and the damage caused to the infrastructure."
The latest operation follows a similar incursion at the same camp two weeks ago that UN officials said left four Palestinians killed and 91 others injured.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Saturday that two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces overnight in Jenin, raising the total dead over the two days of incursion 10.
Thousands of Palestinian civilians have been forced to leave their homes in the refugee camp and take shelter elsewhere in Jenin, Palestinian leaders said.
