"An indiscriminate killing spree"

Islam Ibrahim Issa, the Israeli Arab driver who allegedly rammed his truck into other vehicles and pedestrians in Tel Aviv on Nakba Day, was indicted, Thursday, on charges of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, endangering lives on a traffic route and causing grave bodily harm.

"On Nakba Day, the suspect acted as a lone terrorist with nationalist motives," the indictment filed at the Tel Aviv District Court said. "He made a predetermined decision to kill Jews by running them over with the semi-trailor truck he was driving, which weighs more than 15 tons," the indictment continued.

The attack, which occurred May 15 on Bar Lev Street in Tel Aviv, killed Aviv Morag, 29, a resident of Givatayim, and wounded about 20 others.

The prosecutor, attorney Daniel Ben Tolila, charged that Issa "went on an indiscriminate killing spree with the intention of harming Jews as quickly as possible, while he cruelly trampled other vehicles in his path." After he was stopped, Issa allegedly hit passersby and shouted "Allahu Akbar" and racial epithets about Jews, without provocation. At the time, bystanders still believed the incident had been a car accident.

Issa is suspected of ploughing into 17 other vehicles during a rampage that extended for two kilometers. Had he not been blocked by a bus and a wall of a school in the Kfar Shalem neighborhood, Issa could have continued his destructive path.

"He acted deliberately and indifferently"

According to prosecutors, the incident, including the cruel manner in which he allegedly grabbed a traffic light and hit a female passerby on the head with it, reflects Issa's state of mind and his determination to execute the plot.

Dozens of testimonies in the indictment describe the suspect's alleged killing spree, including his full control over the massive truck, his shifting the steering wheel in the direction of other cars, his truck's acceleration and the numerous injuries he caused to people and property.

Experts are expected to testify at Issa's trial that his truck did not experience a technical malfunction, as he claimed after the incident.

"The suspect acted deliberately and indifferently to bring about the deaths of many people," the indictment said. "He didn't hesitate to use his truck to trample motorcyclists and private cars, and even turned his truck on a bus, which, miraculously, was empty."

Prosecutors are seeking to detain Issa until the end of the proceedings against him. Issa's defense attorney, Mofir Badir, has requested that his client undergo psychiatric evaluation, believing that he was insane at the time of the incident. The judge ruled that Issa would meet with the district court's psychiatrist.

The National Insurance Institute said the Defense Ministry will officially recognize those killed and injured as victims of terror attacks, making them eligible for support according to national criteria.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו