After weeks in hospital, soldier injured in Jerusalem car-ramming released

Golani Brigade infantryman, who suffered multiple injuries including serious head trauma in attack, to continue rehabilitation

An Israeli soldier who was critically injured earlier this month in a car-ramming attack in Jerusalem was released from the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center on Thursday and transferred to a rehabilitation center, the hospital said in a statement.

The infantryman, who suffered multiple injuries, including a serious head injury, was moved to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

He was given a sendoff by Shaare Zedek Director Ofer Merin, along with other department heads who had been involved in treating him over the past three weeks. After initially spending time in the intensive care unit, the soldier was later treated in the neurosurgery department.

“We are very happy to see you today after the amazing recovery process you went through,” Merin told the soldier, who has not been named in media reports. “You are a true fighter, and you proved that to us during the past weeks.”

Israeli security forces seize a car in the West Bank town of Beit Jala that was used in a car-ramming attack against a group of IDF soldiers in Jerusalem earlier in the day on February 6, 2020. (Screen capture)

The soldier’s family said they “thank the medical teams for the devoted care, at every moment, day and night,” the statement said.

The Golani Brigade soldier was badly injured in the predawn hours of February 6 in an attack outside Jerusalem’s First Station, a popular entertainment hub. Eleven other servicemen suffered milder injuries. They were all new recruits on a heritage tour through the city, hours before their swearing-in ceremony.

Less than 24 hours later, Israeli security forces arrested the suspected terrorist at the Gush Etzion Junction in the southern West Bank, police said.

The Shin Bet said the suspect was a 25-year-old resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur who had no history of terrorist activity. He was later identified as Sanad al-Turman.

Sanad Al-Turman, suspect in the car ramming attack near the First Station center in Jerusalem on February 6, 2020, is accompanied by prison guards outside the Jerusalem Magistrates Court on February 7, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Turman’s brother told the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court during a hearing earlier this month that the incident was not a terror attack but rather a traffic incident, after the driver accidentally mounted the sidewalk in his vehicle.

Among the new recruits moderately injured was San Diego-native Ori Hammond. He was released from the hospital last Wednesday.

The ramming came amid a rise in tensions following the release of US President Donald Trump’s plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The IDF has been on a heightened state of alert and has sent three waves of reinforcements to the West Bank.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.