2 hurt as car crashes at West Bank checkpoint, in criminal incident

Two Israelis were hurt Wednesday evening when a Palestinian man driving a car suspected to be stolen crashed into a parked vehicle north of Jerusalem, with authorities saying the incident was criminal, not a nationalistically motivated attack.

A 21-year-old Border Police officer suffered moderate injuries in the incident, and a civilian in his 50s was mildly injured. Both had been standing next to the parked car when the crash occurred. They were taken to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem.

The incident took place at a military checkpoint near the Atarot industrial zone in the West Bank.

The driver, a Palestinian resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya in his 20s, fled the scene on foot. Following a wide-scale manhunt by Border Police, he was arrested hours later, early Thursday morning, police said in a statement.

A Magen David Adom paramedic said: “When we arrived at the scene we saw a fully conscious 21-year-old. He said he was hit by a car, and suffered injuries in his limbs. We treated him and quickly evacuated him in moderate and stable condition to the hospital for further treatment. A second man in his 50s was taken to the hospital with light injuries.”