© Noam Moskovich / ReutersIsraeli rescue forces and soldiers attend to an injured woman at the scene of a truck-ramming incident in Jerusalem January 8, 2017.
"It is a terrorist attack, a ramming attack," a police spokeswoman said on Israel Radio.
Police said three men and one woman, all in their 20s, were killed. It added that the truck driver targeted a group of Israeli soldiers who had just gotten off a tourist bus.
The driver was killed in less than a minute after ploughing through the crowd. Soldiers as well as a civilian tour guide armed with a handgun were responsible for gunning down the attacker.
The ambulance service reportedly took 15 people injured in the incident to the hospital, some of whom were seriously injured.
Health officials called on Jerusalem residents to donate blood to hospitals, which are reportedly experiencing shortages in the wake of the incident.
© Ronen Zvulun / ReutersIsraeli rescue forces work at the scene of a truck ramming incident in Jerusalem January 8, 2017.
An eyewitness to the incident told the radio station that the truck ploughed into a group of soldiers, and that they fired on the driver, who reversed direction and ran over them again.
© Ahmad Gharabli / AFPIsraeli security forces stand guard as medics cover bodies at the site of a ramming attack in Jerusalem on January 8, 2017.
Comment: Update: Israeli Police Identify Jerusalem Truck Attack Suspect
Israeli police said Sunday they identified the suspect behind the deadly truck ramming attack in Jerusalem as an Arab resident of the city.
"The terrorist who murdered 4 soldiers & injured 13 others in truck attack is an Arab resident, Fadi Kunbar age 28 of Jabel Mukaber," Israel Police Foreign Press Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld wrote on his official Twitter.
Israeli Police Chief Roni Alsheich told reporters it was possible that the attack was inspired by a similar truck attack in Berlin in December, which killed 12 people.
"It is certainly possible to be influenced by watching TV but it is difficult to get into the head of every individual to determine what prompted him, but there is no doubt that these things do have an effect," Alsheich said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited the scene of the attack in a gesture apparently stressing the high profile nature of the incident.
The prime minister said there may be a connection between the truck attack in Jerusalem and those in Nice, France and Berlin, Germany. The terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) claimed credit for the attacks in the European cities.
"We know the identity of the attacker, according to all the signs he is a supporter of Islamic State. We have sealed off Jabel Mukabar, the neighbourhood from where he came, and we are carrying out other actions which I will not detail," Netanyahu said in a statement.
A security cabinet meeting is set to determine Israel's response to the attack.
The militant group Hamas called the incident an act of "heroic resistance to the Israeli occupation," but would not claim responsibility for it.
Random attacks by Palestinians against Jews have escalated over the past 15 months. Of the 231 Palestinians killed in Israel over that period, 157 were assailants in attacks using primitive weapons like knives. They have killed at least 37 Israelis and two visiting American citizens, according to Reuters.
The Israeli government blames Palestinian leaders for inciting hatred against Jews. The Palestinian Authority blames Israel's harsh policies against Palestinians, including construction of settlements in the occupied territories and persecution of the families of Palestinian attackers.
Israeli-Palestinian antagonism was highlighted this week after an IDF soldier was convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead an already injured Palestinian attacker last March. The ruling sparked criticism from many Israeli officials, while Netanyahu said Sgt. Elor Azaria should be pardoned.
A video apparently showing the moment of the deadly truck attack in Jerusalem has surfaced online. It shows the truck ploughing through a crowd of people standing next to a bus.
Warning: The video contains graphic images.
The video was shot from a distance of about 30 meters from the scene of the attack, and shows the truck speeding through the crowd, narrowly missing the standing bus.
It then stops and starts maneuvering, moving backwards and turning, before finally coming to a stop.
"...the truck ploughed into a group of soldiers, and that they fired on the driver, who reversed direction and ran over them again."