A suspected killing and fatal road accidents during Yom Kippur: Bashar Khatib, a man in his 40s from Kafr Kanna, was killed Monday afternoon when a concrete truck overturned in the Lower Galilee town of Bu’eine Nujeidat. Footage of the crash shows the truck rolling downhill before overturning.
Also during Yom Kippur, the body of Omar al-Sada, a Palestinian man in his 40s who was staying in Israel without a permit, was found in Umm al-Fahm. He was found inside a home under circumstances that remain under investigation.
Footage of the crash in Bu’eine Nujeidat
Residents said al-Sada had fallen from a height several days earlier and was seriously injured, but they said he avoided seeking medical treatment because he feared being caught over his illegal stay in Israel. They added that he also suffered from other illnesses. Police said an investigation had been opened into the circumstances of his death and that all possibilities were being examined, including murder.
In another fatal accident Sunday evening, a 45-year-old motorcyclist was killed on Route 4370 near Anatot in the Jerusalem area after the motorcycle he was riding with a 37-year-old woman was struck by a vehicle.
Magen David Adom teams called to the scene found the man unconscious and suffering from severe multisystem trauma and pronounced him dead at the scene. The woman riding with him suffered serious injuries to her limbs. MDA medics stopped life-threatening bleeding with a tourniquet, and she was evacuated by intensive care ambulance to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. Two other people who were in the vehicle suffered minor injuries and were also taken to a hospital.
MDA said a total of 46 people were injured in road accidents across Israel: the two people who were killed; a man about 50 who was critically injured in Shefa-Amr and suffered a head injury; the 37-year-old woman who was seriously injured in her limbs; three people who were moderately injured; and 39 who suffered minor injuries.
According to MDA, 40 people were hurt in violent incidents across the country during Yom Kippur: the Palestinian man whose body was found in Umm al-Fahm; a 33-year-old man who was seriously wounded in Beersheba; five people who were moderately wounded; and 33 who suffered minor injuries.
Bashar Khatib, who was killed in the crash in Bu’eine Nujeidat
Omar al-Sada, the Palestinian staying in Israel illegally whose body was found in Umm al-Fahm
In the fatal crash in Bu’eine Nujeidat, four firefighting crews from the Tiberias station worked at the scene for more than an hour. Using hydraulic equipment and specialized rescue tools, they managed to extract Khatib from the driver’s cab. Medical teams examined him but were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene.
A mechanical malfunction in the truck is believed to have caused the crash, though the circumstances remain under investigation.
Senior Fire Officer Shmulik Ahituv, the incident commander, said: “When we arrived at the scene, we saw a concrete pump truck that had overturned, with the driver trapped inside the cab. Firefighters carried out a complex rescue operation using specialized equipment, at the end of which the driver was extracted with no signs of life.”
According to Magen David Adom’s summary of its Yom Kippur operations, its teams were dispatched to provide medical treatment to 3,322 people across Israel, 2,268 of whom were taken to hospitals for further treatment.
A total of 368 people fainted, became dehydrated or felt unwell as a result of the fast. Another 299 people required medical treatment for injuries sustained while riding bicycles, rollerblades, scooters and skateboards. Nine suffered moderate injuries and 290 were lightly injured.
MDA teams were also called during the fast to transport 155 women in labor to hospitals. Five gave birth with the assistance of MDA teams before reaching the hospital: boys were born in Bnei Brak, Jerusalem and Hashmonaim, while girls were born in Ashdod and Yavne’el.
MDA’s blood services supplied 152 units of blood and blood components to hospitals across Israel during Yom Kippur.