Policeman killed, 4 injured in terror shooting on highway near Ashdod
Volunteer medic shoots attacker dead; doctor who stopped to help wounded is also injured; Ben Gvir says private gun ownership helped prevent worse attack
A policeman was killed and four people were wounded when a terrorist opened fire along the Route 4 highway north of the coastal city of Ashdod Tuesday.
The victim was identified as First Sgt. Adir Kadosh, 33. He was critically wounded in the attack, and died of his injuries on the way to the hospital, medical officials and police said.
Reports in Hebrew and Arabic media identified the terrorist as 28-year-old Muhammad Dardouna, who entered Israel illegally from the West Bank. According to the reports, Dardouna was originally from Jabaliya, in the Gaza Strip, but resided in the West Bank after moving there several years ago.
Assuta Medical Center said it was treating an individual who was moderately hurt by pieces of his car window that were shattered by gunfire, and two others who were lightly hurt, including a doctor who stopped his car to treat the injured and was hit by another car.
Another injured person was taken to Kaplan Medical Center.
An initial probe found that Dardouna approached the road by foot, police said. Citing the Central District Police Commander, Channel 12 reported that he approached the police car stationed at the side of the road after the officers noticed him walking and called him over for a security check.
He then fired at Kadosh and injured the additional four people before he was shot by a Magen David Adom ambulance service volunteer who happened to be at the scene.
“I was driving and I saw a person with a gun standing on the road,” the volunteer told the Kan public broadcaster. “At first I thought it was a policeman, and then he fired a few shots at me. I ducked, and immediately after that I jumped out of my car, drew my gun, and shot him.”
The road was reopened after traffic was temporarily halted immediately after the attack.
An eyewitness to the attack told Channel 12 that he was driving when he saw the attacker spray bullets in every direction.
“I began to flee. I didn’t understand what was going on. Suddenly, someone got out of their vehicle and fired at him,” the witness said.
In a statement, the Israel Police said Kadosh was supposed to be getting married in November.
He joined the Israel Police in 2013, after completing his military service in the Border Police and served in the traffic division since 2022. He is survived by his parents and two siblings.
In a post on Instagram, Israeli model and influencer Nataly Dadon shared that she was supposed to have officiated Kadosh’s marriage to his partner Edi Levy.
“Less than a month ago, we were sitting in the living room writing points for the vows,” she wrote. “how we waited for this, how excited I was with both of you.”
The Aguda-The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel sent condolences to Levy, and said that Kadosh was “a person loved by all who knew him.”
The incident is the latest in a string of deadly deadly attacks as Jewish Israelis mark the High Holidays.
Last Wednesday, a man was killed in a terror-stabbing rampage in Hadera.
Days earlier, Sgt. Shira Suslik, 19, a Border Police officer, was killed by a gunman at the central bus station in Beersheba. Ten other people were wounded in the attack.
Earlier this month, seven people were killed and at least eight were wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in Jaffa, one of the deadliest terror attacks in Israel in recent years.
In a statement, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s office said a greater disaster was averted on Tuesday due to the minister’s easing of private gun ownership restrictions, adding that the civilian who shot the attacker had received his private gun three months earlier.