Russian tourist killed by illegal Palestinian driver

Palestinian car thief caused accident that killed Russian tourist in central Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

A Palestinian man, who was illegally present in Israel and who had just stolen a vehicle, caused an accident which claimed the life of a tourist from Russia on Sunday evening.

The suspect, who was not identified by name, was reported by Hebrew-language media to be a resident of Ramallah with no authorization to enter pre-1967 Israel.

According to the reports, the Palestinian stole a vehicle near the central Israel city of Rehovot on Sunday evening.

While driving on the highway near Beit Dagan, a central Israel town close to Ben-Gurion Airport, he struck the car of a tourist visiting from Russia, causing a deadly accident.

Israeli police would not confirm or deny whether the accident occurred during a pursuit of the suspect for auto theft.

“When we arrived at the scene, we saw two vehicles [that were] crushed, one of which flipped upside down. A woman in her 60s was trapped in the overturned vehicle, she was unconscious and suffered numerous injuries,” Magen David Adom paramedic Gal Salkhov said in a media statement.

“We treated her while extracting her from the vehicle and performed CPR, after which we had to declare her dead. From the second vehicle, we extracted a man of approximately 30 who was conscious…he was transported to the hospital in severe condition.”

The suspect is currently hospitalized in moderate condition at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan.

In a separate incident on Sunday, two Palestinian man staged a car accident in order to steal an Israeli woman’s vehicle.

Noa, a resident of Judea and Samaria, told the Morning News with Niv Raskin that while driving in Judea and Samaria, her car was struck from behind.

When she exited her car to speak with the occupants of the car that had hit her, the two men suddenly jumped into her car and began to drive away.

She attempted to stop them, and was dragged along the road for several meters until she let go of the car. She was not seriously injured.

Speaking to Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria, she advised that those involved in car accidents with Palestinians to “not stop [their vehicles], no matter what.”