A suspected Palestinian car thief crashed a stolen vehicle through a checkpoint at the entrance of Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday morning, before he was shot by guards opening fire in response, police said in a statement.
It was the third such incident within a number of weeks.
The suspect was lightly wounded in the shooting, and police said he would be questioned after receiving medical treatment.
Police said the suspect, who had illegally entered Israel from the West Bank, stole a car from the central region of the country and drove toward the airport.
Guards at the airport noticed the car as it approached at high speed before ramming through the checkpoint and driving on the wrong side of the road.
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Airport security responded by opening fire and deploying roadblocks.
Police said that the driver had endangered the safety of the guards and the general public.
Footage circulated on social media apparently showed passengers at the airport’s international terminal who were asked to lie on the ground during the course of the incident.
תיעוד מנתב"ג: נוסעים בטרמינל 3 התבקשו לשכב על הרצפה בזמן המרדף אחרי הרכב שפרץ את המחסום@SivanSisay
(אנחנו עושים מאמץ גדול לאתר את בעלי הזכויות בצילום. השימוש ביצירות שבעל הזכויות בהן לא ידוע נעשה לפי סעיף 27א לחוק זכויות יוצרים. אם אתם בעלי הזכויות יש לפנות ל-zcuyot@kan.org.il) pic.twitter.com/FkgZWvpN4J— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 4, 2022
Ziv Hayat, who was in the terminal, told Channel 12 news that there was initial panic when the incident began.
“We didn’t know exactly what had happened so everyone ran in panic and was shouting. There was a moment of hysteria and stress and everyone lay down. I was with a group of American tourists who didn’t understand what was happening, so I had to explain it to them,” he said. “The incident ended after 20 minutes, and we were told that we could get up and continue as normal.”
There was a similar incident on October 23, when the airport was briefly put on lockdown while the suspect was on the loose.
In an almost identical incident on September 22, a Palestinian driver rammed a stolen vehicle through a security barrier at Ben Gurion Airport, causing no injuries.
