Four people and horse safe after getting caught in floods, rescuers say

Four people and a horse became trapped in rivers that flooded on Friday after heavy rainfall overnight, emergency services said. All were brought to safety.

Three people, including a small child, had to be rescued from their minivan in a channel of the Shiloh River in the West Bank after water submerged about half the car, according to the Fire and Rescue Services.

Footage from the scene showed the three sitting on the roof of the car as rescuers in full storm gear rowed up to them in a red rubber dinghy, handed them life jackets and helped them onto the boat one by one.

In the Sorek River, near Beit Shemesh in central Israel, a man fell off his horse as water levels climbed to 1.6 meters, according to the emergency service.

The horse managed to get out, but the man, who was injured from the fall, had to hang on to branches to avoid being swept away until rescuers got to him, the emergency service said. He was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom medics.

Meanwhile, the country faced significant road closures due to storm damage and flooding.

אנשי ההצלה חילצו לכודים שנתקעו על גג רכבם בעת שניסו לחצות את נחל שילה • בנחל שורק נסחף אדם עם סוס, שניהם חולצו בשלום pic.twitter.com/cmM9LNnpwV

— זמן אמת (@zmanemet308) January 2, 2026

As of midday, Route 234 was closed in both directions near Tze’elim Bridge, and Route 90 was blocked in both directions from the Ein Gedi junction to the Ein Bokek roundabout.

Heavy rain has fallen on Israel throughout the week.

On Sunday, emergency crews rescued three members of a family whose car was caught in a flooded stream in Abu Joda, a small Bedouin hamlet on the outskirts of Kseifa, east of Beersheba.