Suspected hate crime as 4 Jewish group ambulances set ablaze in London

London — Police in London are investigating a suspected antisemitic hate crime after vehicles belonging to a Jewish ambulance service were set on fire early Monday morning.

Officers were called to Golders Green, a London neighborhood with a large Jewish population, after receiving reports of a fire.

Four ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest, a volunteer organization that provides emergency medical responses, were damaged, according to the London fire brigade. Photos from the scene show several of the ambulances completely destroyed, with just heaps of blackened wreckage remaining.

Multiple oxygen tanks on the vehicles exploded, causing windows to break in an adjacent block of residences, it said in a statement, adding that no injuries have been reported and the fire has been brought under control.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, authorities said. Security camera video showed three people running across the street to the site where the ambulances were parked and appearing to light them ablaze.

“We know this incident will cause a great deal of community concern and officers remain on scene to carry out urgent enquiries,” Police Superintendent Sarah Jackson said.

She added that the police are looking for three suspects but no arrests have been made yet.

Police said reports of explosions were linked to the gas canisters on the ambulances. Nearby homes were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Mark Reisner, an eyewitness who lives in the neighborhood, heard loud explosions and arrived at the scene “just as the third ambulance was blowing up,” he told Sky News.

“A very loud explosion, you sort of felt it go through your guts,” he said, adding, “it’s just left us all reeling with confusion and shock.”

Shomrim, a nonprofit organization that operates a neighborhood watch in the area, condemned the attack.

“This was not only a criminal act of arson, but a targeted and deeply concerning incident affecting a vital emergency service serving the local Jewish community,” it said in a post on X.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the incident, calling it a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack,” adding that “antisemitism has no place in our society,” according to the Reuters news service.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the head of the Anglican Church, said “such acts of violence, hatred and intimidation have no place in our society.”

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called it a “sickening assault.”

“At a time when Jewish communities around the world are facing a growing pattern of these violent attacks, we will meet this moment with shared resolve and stand together against hatred and intimidation,” he wrote on X.

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas War in late 2023, according to the Community Security Trust, which works to protect the Jewish community. The group recorded 3,700 in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.

In October 2025, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogueon the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and stabbed one person to death. Another person died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.

Earlier this month, two men were charged with carrying out “hostile” surveillanceof the U.K.’s Jewish community in London on behalf of Iran.

A series of recent attacks have also occurred in other cities in Europe, including an explosion outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam and nighttime attacks in front of synagogues in the Belgian city of Liege and the Dutch port city of Rotterdam earlier this month. No one was injured in those incidents. In France, officials said they foiled a suspected terror plot aimed at Jewish targets.