Two men were shot and moderately to seriously injured in a suspected hit attempt on the Route 6 highway early Tuesday, capping off several incidents of violence on Israeli roads within a few hours.
The two residents of East Jerusalem, aged 46 and 31, were blocked by several vehicles near Ben Shemen Interchange while driving in a Lamborghini luxury car, according to Hebrew media.
The unidentified assailants beat them and stabbed them before fleeing. A few minutes later, when medics were at the scene, a motorcycle passed by and shots were fired, hitting the already injured men.
The men were taken to Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva and to Sheba hospital in Ramat Gan, with the Magen David Adom ambulance service saying one of them was in serious condition and the other in moderate condition.
Police opened an investigation and were treating the incident as a suspected criminal assassination attempt.
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Medic Muhammad Abu Ras told the Ynet news site he was caught in a traffic jam and had initially thought it was an accident, rushing to treat the wounded before the subsequent shots were fired.
The scene of a suspected assassination attempt on Route 6, near Ben Shemen Interchange, December 6, 2022. (Israel Police)
“When you hear the shots, you don’t fully understand,” he said. “We took cover to not get hurt and went back to treating [the wounded] under fire. I never thought I’d be in such a situation. They shot at point blank range, right next to us.”
Fellow medic Suleiman Khin said: “We suddenly heard gunfire during the treatment, and then we saw the bullets had hit them. They attacked them and fled. The bullets passed between my legs. I’m still trying to take in what happened.”
The incident came after several road rage incidents on Monday evening, amid a wave of road violence that included the fatal stabbing of pedestrian Yuri Volkov by a moped rider in Holon last month.
On Monday, a 29-year-old scooter driver from Bnei Brak was arrested after he was filmed assaulting a car driver who had overtaken him, using his helmet. In the footage, he is seen opening the door of the car and beating the driver, identified in media reports as 20 years old from Jerusalem, before passersby intervene. The car driver was reportedly not injured.
הכה בקסדה – ונמלט: רוכב קורקינט חשוד שתקף נהג שעקף אותו בבני ברק | תיעודhttps://t.co/Mr0sEAmasC@liran__levi pic.twitter.com/XqWZjhvbPL
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) December 5, 2022
Police said the scooter driver had initially escaped but was caught and arrested. He was found to have been drunk.
Also Monday evening, a minor collision of two cars in Lod caused a fight between three men that was likewise caught on video and led to one of them being hospitalized with mild injuries.
האלימות בכבישים: שני צעירים תקפו בלוד נהג שביקש להחליף איתם איתם פרטים, לאחר שככל הנראה התנגשו בחלק האחורי של רכבו@SivanSisay pic.twitter.com/nrtH2LwinM
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 5, 2022
The footage shows the driver emerging from one of the cars, after which two men exit the other vehicle. As they speak, one of the two men shoves the driver, who gets into the car, grabs a bat and starts chasing the pair.
The two men end up overpowering the man with the bat, and continue to beat him even when he is on the ground.
The man was taken to Shamir Medical Center in Beer Yaakov. Police said they launched an investigation, with the two attackers still on the loose after fleeing the scene.