4 Jewish community ambulances belonging to Hatzolah, a volunteer medical emergency service, were set on fire overnight while parked in a residential area of northwest London in what British leaders have identified as an “antisemitic arson attack.”
The London Fire Brigade, which sent six fire engines and 40 firefighters to the scene, said multiple cylinders on the vehicles exploded, shattering nearby windows. No injuries were reported, and no arrests have been made.
Security footage of the incident showed three suspects wearing hooded clothing approaching the vehicles before setting them alight.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident, which occurred at about 1:30 a.m. GMT on Monday, “a deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”
“My thoughts are with the Jewish community who’re waking up this morning to this horrific news,” Starmer said on X. “Antisemitism has no place in our society.”
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U.K. police said the fires were being treated as an antisemitic hate crime and that the investigation can be led by specialist counter-terrorism officers.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan condemned the attacks and vowed to extend security and police presence.
“This can be a cowardly attack on the Jewish community. I’m in close contact with the police who’re stepping up patrols in the realm, and I urge anyone with information to return forward. Londoners won’t ever be cowed by this sort of hatred and intimidation,” he wrote on X.
The incident happened within the northwest London area of Golders Green, a neighbourhood home to a big Jewish population.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said in an announcement on Instagram following the attack, “At a time when Jewish communities around the globe are facing a growing pattern of those violent attacks, we’ll meet this moment with shared resolve and stand together against hatred and intimidation.”
The ambulances belonged to Hatzolah, a volunteer organization that responds to medical emergencies and works alongside the U.K.’s National Health Service.
An officer from an emergency response unit watches a firefighter response team in London, Monday, March 23, 2026, after an apparent arson attack on 4 vehicles belonging to the Jewish ambulance service, Hatzola, in northwest London.
AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
It was founded within the Sixties in Brooklyn, Recent York, to offer medical services to its Yiddish-speaking, Hasidic community and his since expanded globally, offering emergency medical care to Jewish communities around the globe.
Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg said the Hatzola service would proceed to operate for the “nation that we love,” saying, “we will not be moved.”
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting said the federal government would replace the ambulances.
More to return.
With files from Reuters
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