Hamas Calls Jerusalem Truck Attack 'Heroic,' Calls Other Palestinians to Follow Suit

JERUSALEM, Israel -- The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is praising the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem that killed four Israelis over the weekend, calling it "heroic."
    
While the group is not claiming responsibility for the incident, the group's spokesman called on other Palestinians to follow suit and "escalate" their attacks on Israelis.

Jerusalem, meanwhile, is on heightened security Monday following what police are calling the worst terror attack in the city in more than a year. 

On Sunday, a terrorist drove his truck into a group of soldiers, killing four and injuring 15 more. Police say the attacker was from eastern Jerusalem and that he veered off course in order to ram the people who had disembarked from a bus. 

One video shows the driver barreling up over the curb and driving through the soldiers, then backing up at high speed in order to run over more people before authorities shot and killed him. 

The attack happened as about 200 soldiers participated in a field day. 

"I was just downstairs with my group, another group of soldiers and we just heard what was going on. It was very frightening," recalled tour guide Aviv Herzl.

"Everyone just ran away and tried to find a place to hide and that's exactly what I did," Herzl continued. 

"When we arrived on scene there were a number of victims both trapped under the front of the truck as well as next to the truck and we began to treat them," recalled rescue worker Dovi Meyer. 

"The situation, like all terror attacks no matter how much you prepare, was mayhem. That is what it's like at a terror attack," Meyer explained.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited the scene. 

"This is part of the same pattern inspired by Islamic State, by ISIS, that we saw first in France, then in Germany and now in Jerusalem. This is part of the same ongoing battle against this global scourge of the new terrorism. We can only fight it together, but we have to fight it, and we will," promised Netanyahu. 

Palestinians celebrated the attack in Gaza. 

Forty Israelis and two Americans have now died in various terrorist attacks using vehicular assaults here since September 2015. 

Many fear terrorism will only increase following the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria.