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 It was the first Palestinian attack reported in Israel's
commercial capital since a soldier was stabbed to death two months
ago.
Passengers on the bus said the assailant, later identified by police
as a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, stabbed the driver and
then others as the vehicle slowed to a stop.
"The terrorist had murder in his eyes," one passenger, identified
only as Orly said on Israel Radio.
As screaming passengers spilled out of the bus, prison officers in
another vehicle at one of Tel Aviv's busiest intersections saw the
suspected attacker trying to flee and gave chase.
One of the officers shot him in the leg. Television footage showed
the alleged assailant, whom police said was aged 23, lying face down
in mud, his arms handcuffed behind his back.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said seven people were
wounded in the stabbing, four of them seriously, and two other
passengers suffered injuries while running off the bus.
During the attack, the bus driver managed to alert his dispatcher
and plead over the phone for help.
"Save me. I have been seriously injured, stabbed all over my body.
He has stabbed my passengers ... If anything happens to me, look
after my children," the driver said, according to the dispatcher's
account on Army Radio.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Hamas Islamist group that
controls the Gaza Strip called it "the natural reaction to Israeli
terrorism against the Palestinian people".
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In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the
attack "a direct result of venomous incitement disseminated in the
Palestinian Authority against Jews and their country."
The stabbing came amid heightened tensions in recent months between
Palestinians and Israelis, particularly in the West Bank, where the
Authority exercises limited self-rule, and East Jerusalem.
In November, two Palestinians killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem
synagogue. Five Israelis and a foreign visitor died in Palestinian
attacks before that incident. At least 12 Palestinians have also
been killed, including some of the attackers.
(Reporting by Ori Lewis, Ori Lewis and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by
Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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