Police: West Bank car crash may be terror-related

Police said a Palestinian driver who hit an Israeli car head-on near the West Bank settlement of Psagot on Saturday may have been intending to carry out a terror attack.

The driver was killed in the collision. Four Israelis were lightly injured. A large knife was found in the Palestinian’s car.

Authorities said the investigation was ongoing.

Also on Saturday, hundreds of people attended the funeral of Rabbi Ya’akov Litman and his teenage son Netanel, who were shot dead in a terror attack south of the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday.

Ya’akov Litman was initially hit by the gunfire while driving and swerved into the opposite lane, where he crashed into rocks by the side of the road. According to a report on Channel 2, one of the shooters, after critically wounding Ya’akov and Netanel, came closer to fire further bullets. He did not fire at the girls.

Magen David Adom paramedics arrived to find the father and son critically injured and pronounced them dead at the scene shortly after.

Hamas media outlets celebrated the murders. It claimed the killers “were merciful” to the children in accordance with the dictates of Islam. Channel 2 suggested that dark windows on the family’s van may have meant the gunmen did not realize there were children in the back seats.

Friday evening following the attack, security forces entered a number of Palestinian villages in the area, supported by military helicopters, to where the suspected terrorists could have fled, Channel 2 said. The nearby village of Yatta was also placed under closure.

The attack brings to 15 the number of Israelis killed in the current cycle of Palestinian terror and violence, which flared up during the Jewish New Year holiday in September. Some 200 Israelis have also been wounded in the car-ramming, shooting and knife attacks that have struck primarily in Jerusalem and the West Bank.