A stolen-vehicle driver tried to evade arrest at the West Bank's Meitar (חץ) crossing, ramming a civilian company worker who attempted to stop him, according to N12. The car was seized beyond the crossing; the driver fled on foot and a search is underway. Police said the incident is criminal, not security-related.
A stolen-vehicle driver attempted to evade arrest at the Meitar (חץ) crossing in the West Bank on Tuesday evening, striking a civilian company worker who tried to stop him, according to N12. Police have now confirmed the incident is criminal and not security-related. The driver had brought the stolen car from central Israel toward the West Bank; after ramming the worker, the vehicle was stopped beyond the barrier, but the driver fled on foot. A search is underway. The worker was injured; his condition has not been detailed.
Earlier reports from a source affiliated with right-wing activists, published at Tue 21:31 Jerusalem, said Israeli forces attempted to stop a stolen vehicle with an Arab driver at a West Bank checkpoint, and that a security guard was lightly to moderately wounded. That same source initially described the injured party as a company security guard, while N12 now identifies the victim as a civilian company worker. An even earlier version of the reports said a young person was wounded in the limbs during the stop attempt, without specifying the cause. The police classification of the incident as criminal, not security-related, marks a shift in official framing from the initial activist-sourced reports.
As The Zioneer reported on Tue Jun 16, police shot and arrested a Palestinian suspect who rammed officers with a stolen car at the Hashmonaim checkpoint. That incident was also described as criminal. The Meitar crossing is one of the main checkpoints between central Israel and the southern West Bank.
The driver of the stolen car remains at large. No additional details on the worker's condition have been released. It is not yet clear whether the earlier reports of a security guard and the current report of a civilian worker refer to the same person or are two separate accounts.
4 developments
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Source and signal
- Internal intake