A day after the victim was found dead in a burning car following an explosion in Kiryat Gat, the body was released for burial after ZAKA's legal department worked with all relevant authorities, the rescue organization said Friday afternoon.
The body of the man killed in Thursday's car explosion in Kiryat Gat was released for burial shortly after noon on Friday, following a ZAKA legal department process that coordinated with the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and other authorities. The funeral is set for 15:30 Jerusalem time in Dimona's municipal cemetery. ZAKA legal coordinator Michael Gottwein said the organization worked with Rabbi Asher Landau, head of the forensic medicine institute's rabbinical affairs, and Yehuda Msika, deputy head of ZAKA Dimona, to secure the release.
The development comes a day after the chain of events that began Thursday afternoon: at 13:42 MDA received a call about a car on fire on Rehov Harimon. By 13:54 Jerusalem, The Zioneer had reported across multiple updates that the victim was a man known to police, that the blast was believed to be a targeted criminal assassination using an explosive device attached to the vehicle, and that bomb disposal and forensic teams were at the scene. Coverage across the afternoon confirmed the victim was known for drug offenses, according to N12, and that the authorities were treating the incident as criminal.
As The Zioneer reported on Thursday, the incident in the southern city is being investigated as a criminal assassination — a planted bomb, a victim with a police record, and a vehicle belonging to a relative. The quick release of the body for burial, unusual in cases under active criminal investigation, reflects the legal coordination that was completed.
What remains open is the cause and precise timing of the explosion itself, which is still under investigation by police and forensic units; no arrests or suspects have been named, and the specific motive has not been established.
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