"Save me. Save me. And if something happens to me, watch over my children.'"

This had been the words of a bus driver in a telephone conversation with one of his colleagues, as a man went on a stabbing spree inside a bus in Tel Aviv, Wednesday.

At least twelve people were wounded - four seriously, in what police had called a terrorist attack. 

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"Matti, Matti, a terrorist is on my bus, save me.  He severely injured me.  I've been stabbed all over.  He stabbed the passengers.  I am next to Ma'ariv headquarters now.  He severely injured me.  I am bleeding.  I am going to die," bus driver Herzl Biton told his colleague over the phone as he cried for help.

Police have identified the attacker as 23-year old Hamza Matruk, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.  He was shot by police, after trying to escape from the bus.  Police say Matruk had  been staying in Israel illegally. 

Matruk is now in police custody for questioning.  Police said he admitted carrying out the attack as a response to last year's war in Gaza, and in order to "reach heaven".

Police said Matruk boarded the bus on Menachem Begin Road.  The suspect stabbed the driver in the chest, some 400 meters away from the stop.

Prison officer Benny Botershvili, one of the officers who responded to the attack, saw the bus swerve and stop at the green light. Then people started getting off the bus and shouted for help.  

"At first we fired in the air, then at his legs. The terrorist fell, we handcuffed him and turned him over to police," Botershvili said.

This was the the first attack in Tel Aviv this year since a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier in November.

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.  But in his Twitter account, Senior Hamas official Izzat Risheq branded the attack as "brave and heroic". 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to twitter his reaction to the attack. 

"We will continue to take strong action against the terrorism that has been trying to attack us," he tweeted. 

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki condemns the incident, saying there is "no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians."

Britain and France also expressed support for the people of Israel and vowed to help in its fight against terror.

Tagstel aviv, bus attack, Palestine