The UK police are investigating the possibility of a connection with Iran after the burning of ambulances belonging to the Jewish organization – National
Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish organization were set on fire on Monday morning in London in what British police are investigating as an illegal hate crime. Investigators are working to determine whether the claim of responsibility from a group with alleged links to Iran is true.
Although it has not been classified as a terrorist incident, anti-terrorist police have been put in charge of the investigation. No one was injured in the nighttime incident, which shattered windows in nearby homes and left cars burning with shells.
“We are following all lines of inquiry, including an online request for responsibility by an Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for attacks in Europe and may have links to the country of Iran,” said Mark Rowley, chief of London’s Metropolitan Police.
Religious and political leaders condemned what Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the “horrific” attack.
“Antisemitism has no place in our society and it is very important that we all come together at a time like this,” said Starmer, who met with Jewish community leaders at 10 Downing St. on Monday to discuss the response to the attack.
Police were called to Golders Green, a north London area with a large Jewish population, after receiving reports of a fire, the Metropolitan Police said.
Four ambulances from Hatzola Northwest, a volunteer organization that provides emergency medical services, were damaged, according to the London Fire Brigade.
The air cylinders in the cars exploded, shattering the windows of a nearby apartment. Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.
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What appeared to be security camera footage showed three people wearing black hats carrying a can towards one of the ambulances before flames erupted around the vehicle. The police said they are looking for three suspects, but no one has been arrested yet.
The police are trying to validate the claim of commitment
A video posted on Telegram, allegedly by an Islamist group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, showed a map of the area where the ambulances were kept and images of them burning. The group of the same name, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, previously claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Burnt vehicles are seen in Golders Green, London, England, Monday, March 23, 2026 after an apparent attack on four Jewish ambulances, in Hatzola Northwest, London.
Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA via AP
The Israeli government has called it a newly formed group with alleged links to pro-Iran networks.
“The rapid growth in recent years of threats from the Iranian regime is very serious,” Rowley told the annual dinner of the Community Security Trust, which works to provide security for the Jewish community. But he said it was “too early for me to say that last night’s attack in Golders Green was caused by the country of Iran.”
The attack spread fear and alarm in Britain’s nearly 300,000 Jewish community, which feels extremely vulnerable.
Mark Reisner, who lives in the area, heard a loud explosion and arrived at the scene “when the third ambulance exploded,” he told Sky News.
“The explosion was so big, you felt it go through your gut,” he said, adding, “it just left us confused and in shock.”
Previous attacks on the UK Jewish community
The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported across the UK has increased since the 7 October 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza, according to the Community Security Trust, which works to protect the Jewish community. The group recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.
In October 2025, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and stabbed one person to death. Another person died when he was attacked after being shot by the police.
Last week, two men in London were charged with “hostile” surveillance last year against the UK Jewish community on behalf of Iran.
Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said the force would increase security at Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers ahead of Passover next month.
Some members of the public criticized Starmer’s Labor Party government for failing to prevent Palestinian protests from escalating into anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions.
Peter Zinkin, a Conservative politician who represents Golders Green on the local council, said the community was feeling “distressed and angry.”
“Burning ambulances in the middle of the night is shameful,” he said. “And you have to ask yourself, why did it happen? And the reason I’m afraid that it happened is that the government and the media, especially certain parts of the media, have ensured lawlessness throughout the country.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, head of the Church of England, said “such acts of violence, hatred and intimidation have no place in our society.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called it a “sick attack.”
“At a time when Jewish communities around the world are facing an increasing pattern of these violent attacks, we will meet this time with a shared determination and stand against hatred and intimidation,” he wrote in X.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
