3-year-old killed by car outside playground in southern Israel

A 3-year-old boy was run over and killed in southern Israel on Friday.

Shila Saad, from the town of Shokeda in the northern Negev, was hit by a car in the nearby community of Kfar Maimon.

Magen David Adom medics carried out resuscitation efforts and evacuated him to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he was declared deceased.

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An initial investigation found the child had been on a playground with friends and was waiting for his father to pick him up.

He saw his father’s vehicle approaching, ran around a protective fence and strayed into the street, where he was hit by another vehicle.

The driver of the other vehicle was a 30-year-old resident of the town. He was questioned by police, the Ynet news site reported.

A medic who arrived on the scene said, “The child was lying in the street, unconscious and suffering from a severe multi-system injury. He was without a pulse and not breathing. We put him in a mobile intensive care unit while carrying out resuscitation treatments and evacuated him to the hospital in critical condition.”

A children’s safety organization said that in the past decade, 60 children have died of injuries during the Passover holiday, 37% of whom perished in road accidents.