Soldier killed, four injured in West Bank collision between jeep and truck
Route 60 closed in both directions near Gush Etzion; separately, fugitive driver bolting police kills father and son in crash
An IDF soldier was killed Wednesday morning in a fatal collision between the military jeep he was in and a truck on Route 60 in the West Bank, near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.
Three other soldiers in the jeep were injured: A man in his 30s was in moderate condition, and the two others were lightly injured, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
MDA medics who attended the scene said they found the two lightly injured people sitting at the roadside while two others were trapped inside the jeep, which had overturned and caught fire.
Emergency services doused the flames and freed the trapped men, one of whom was declared dead at the scene. The three injured soldiers were taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The truck driver was also moderately injured.
The slain soldier was later named by the military as Master Sgt. (res.) Anwar Serhan, 26, of the Etzion Regional Brigade’s 910th Battalion, from the northern Druze town of Hurfeish.
The army said the crash occurred during “operational activity.”
Police said that Route 60 was closed in both lanes due to the accident and advised drivers to find alternative routes.
On Tuesday night, a car fleeing police went through a red light and hit another vehicle, killing a father and his teenage son and seriously injuring another young son.
The crash happened at Hamovil Junction in the north, where routes 79 and 77 intersect, police said.
The father and son were named in Hebrew media reports as Ali Abu Dibah, in his 40s, and Mohammed, 14. They were both taken to Rambam Medical Center and later declared dead. The second boy, aged 12, was being treated at Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias. The family is from the northern Arab town of Tur’an.
Police said that during routine traffic duties officers indicated to an approaching car to stop. Instead, the driver bolted and went through a red light at the junction, colliding with another vehicle.
Video of the incident posted to social media showed the intersection was full of traffic at the time.
Two occupants of the fleeing car were lightly injured in the collision, police said. The statement did not give further details about the two people or say if they had been arrested.
תאונה קטלנית בכביש 79 צומת המוביל בצפון- במהלך מרדף משטרתי רכב חצה באדום, 3 הרוגים pic.twitter.com/B05riGZfHG
— יענקי כהן | Yanki Coen (@yankicoen) January 16, 2024
According to the Or Yarok road safety lobby group, 13 people have been killed on the roads since the beginning of the year.
