Five people killed in car crashes across Israel since morning

Five people were killed in car crashes across Israel on Thursday, including a cyclist hit by a vehicle that was allegedly stolen by a Palestinian who was in Israel illegally, according to first responders.

The cyclist, a roughly 50-year-old man, was hit when the car overturned between Tel Aviv and Herzliya Thursday morning, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. He was pronounced dead at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. Police identified the driver as a 24-year-old man from the Nablus area in the northern West Bank, and said he was taken into custody.

Later Thursday morning, a pair of roughly 30-year-old men were killed in a collision between two cars on Route 310, near the southern community of Giv’ot Bar, MDA said. They were pronounced dead on the scene.

The victims were identified as Ameen and Aboud Tarabin, both from the nearby Bedouin community of Tarabin al-Sana. The Ynet news site reported that each of them was in a different vehicle.

In the early afternoon, a roughly 70-year-old man was killed in a collision between a bus and a car on the Ayalon Highway, next to the KKL-JNF Interchange in north Tel Aviv, according to MDA.

The man was rushed in critical condition to the Sourasky Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Medics also hospitalized a 69-year-old man in moderate condition with a head wound, and three other lightly injured people, the ambulance service said.

Later in the afternoon, a car crashed into a motorcycle on Route 780, next to Kiryat Ata in northern Israel, killing the motorcyclist, according to MDA.

The motorcyclist, a roughly 35-year-old man, was pronounced dead on the spot, the ambulance service said.

Over 300 people have died in road accidents in Israel this year, according to the National Road Safety Authority.

Last year saw 459 fatalities in road accidents, marking the highest yearly death toll in two decades, according to the authority.