A Palestinian couple and their four children were killed Friday evening in a collision a military vehicle on Highway 60, near the West Bank settlement of Ofra and north of Ramallah. The driver's other wife was seriously injured. Four Israel Defense Forces soldiers sustained light wounds in the accident.
The accident took place at around 6:30 pm. The Palestinian vehicle drifted from its lane, apparently due to a puncture, and crashed into a fortified military Hummer.
The soldiers, who were buckled up, were lightly hurt. They were evacuated to Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. The Judea and Samaria District Police launched an investigation into the accident.
Head of the Civil Administration in the West Bank, Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, offered to help the Palestinians and to evacuate the injured woman to an Israeli hospital. .
The family members killed in the crash were identified as Bassam Abu Awad of Brizeit, one of his wives, and his four children – aged 10, three, two and two months.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report