Police pursuing the stolen truck. Photo: Screenshot.

A would-be Palestinian terrorist was chased down and arrested in the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion on Thursday after he stole a truck which he later admitted he had planned to use to conduct a ramming attack against IDF soldiers in the heart of the country.

The suspect — a 39-year-old man from the West Bank city of Ramallah — stole the truck in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, and was later spotted in the nearby Beit Dagan area, prompting a police pursuit. The truck struck a police cruiser and private vehicle before it came to a halt on Moshe Dayan Boulevard in Rishon Lezion and the driver was brought into custody.

According to media reports, the detained suspect had an initial court hearing on Friday. Afterward, he was quoted as saying, “I came to kill soldiers because of Al-Aqsa. I only regret that I didn’t succeed. I will still kill soldiers.”

Many perpetrators of terrorist attacks in Israel in recent times have cited tensions over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City — where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located — as their motivation. Claims of Israeli violations of the status quo at the sensitive hilltop holy compound are a regular feature of Palestinian incitement.

Watch video footage of the arrest below (via Divuach Rishoni):