Car explosion in Petah Tikva wounds two in suspected criminal hit

Police suspect blast was intended to kill third person who’d left the vehicle and was unharmed; bomb disposal personnel remove ‘surviving parts of weaponry’ from car

By ToI Staff 18 July 2024, 11:16 pm Edit

A car is seen in flames in Petah Tikva, after an explosion that police are investigating as a criminal incident, July 18, 2024. (Screen capture via Channel 14; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A car explosion in the central city of Petah Tikva on Thursday left two people wounded, one seriously and one moderately, in what police were investigating as a criminal incident.

Hebrew media reported that a third man, who had left the vehicle before the explosion, was thought by police to have been the target of the attack.

Police said they found “surviving parts of weaponry” in the car, which was transferred by bomb disposal personnel to a forensic laboratory for further investigation.

Paramedics arrived on the scene at 6:38 p.m. and provided first aid to the two wounded men, aged 20 and 25, Magen David Adom said in a statement.

“We arrived at the scene and saw a car on fire, and two men lying next to it, conscious and suffering from severe injuries to their limbs,” said one of the paramedics.

“We quickly moved them to the mobile intensive care unit and gave them first aid.”

The wounded men were evacuated to Beilinson Medical Center.