Two siblings injured in car ramming in Gush Etzion
One victim remains unconscious, Palestinian terrorist shot dead as he tried to exit vehicle
Terrorist victim Nahum Navis, 18, remains unconscious and in serious condition as of Saturday night after he and his sister, Noam, 20, were injured in a car-ramming attack on Friday afternoon near Elazar in the Gush Etzion region.
Police released dramatic video footage of the attack, which showed a white car with an Israeli license plate speeding on Route 60 before swerving off the road to hit the sister and brother standing by a bus stop. The car then flipped over, landing in back of the bus stop.
An off-duty officer caught the attack on camera and, upon viewing the driver attempting to exit the vehicle, shot and killed him, according to police who released a short video of the attack.
The Palestinian driver, 27-year-old Ala’ Khader al-Hreimi from Bethlehem, was imprisoned in 2014 and 2015 for unspecified violent activities.
Nahum was transported by Magen David Adom to Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem with a head injury and underwent surgery. Noam was initially taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center n the capital but was subsequently transferred to Hadassah Ein Kerem where she is listed as lightly injured. The family, which lives in Elazar, asked the public on Friday to pray for the two siblings.
Friday’s terror attack was the third in 10 days. On Thursday, a policeman was lightly to moderately injured in a Palestinian stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem.
On August 7, Dvir Sorek, 18, was stabbed to death by Palestinians near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz, not far from the site of Friday’s ramming attack.
The Yesha Council called on the IDF and security forces to do everything possible to restore safety to the region.
Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne’eman spoke about the absence of deterrence and called on the government to apply sovereignty to Gush Etzion in response to the attacks.
“Unfortunately, we are experiencing a lack of deterrence that’s affecting residents of Gush Etzion in
particular, and Judea and Samaria in general,” Ne’eman said.
“We demand from the government action that will lead to the end of this uncertainty for the future of Judea and Samaria. We are calling for the establishment of sovereignty. The answer is to continue to build and grow in Judea and Samaria,” he continued. “To the terrorists we say – you have no chance, and you have no future,” he said. He also wished a speedy recovery to the victims.
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the attack, stating that his failure to stand strong against Hamas in Gaza had emboldened terrorists to attack Israels in the West Bank.
Netanyahu’s cabinet, made up of ministers like Bezalel Smotrich and Miri Regev, can’t handle this kind of terrorism, Gantz said. He swore that, if elected prime minster, he would create a strong cabinet to restore deterrence and protect Israeli citizens.
On Friday afternoon, settlers demonstrated near the site of the
attack demanding security. •