A suspected Palestinian carjacker crashed a stolen car at a security checkpoint at the entrance to Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday morning and was shot by security guards who returned fire, police said.
It was the third such incident in as many weeks.
The suspect was slightly injured in the shooting and will be questioned after receiving medical treatment, police said.
The police said that the suspect, who illegally entered Israel from the West Bank, stole a car from the central region of the country and went to the airport.
Airport security guards saw the car approaching at high speed, passing through the security checkpoint and driving onto the wrong side of the road.
Airport security forces responded by opening fire and setting up roadblocks.
The police said that the driver endangered the security of the security guards and the public.
In the images circulated on social networks, passengers were asked to lie down during the incident at the airport’s international terminal.
תיעוד מנטב”ג: נועזים בטרינמל 3 התיגכו לשגב אל הרצספה אנטב”ג@SivanSisay
(את באלי המיטועים בפוטיות. pic.twitter.com/FkgZWvpN4J— kann news (@kann_news) December 4, 2022
Ziv Hayat, who was at the terminal, told Kanal 12 news that there was an initial panic when the incident started.
“We didn’t know exactly what was happening, so everyone ran and screamed in panic. 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 going on, so I had to explain it to them,” he said. “The incident ended after 20 minutes and we were told we could get up and continue as normal.”
There was a similar event On October 23, when the airport was briefly closed while the suspect was at large.
Almost, same event On September 22, a Palestinian driver drove a stolen car through the security barrier at Ben Gurion Airport, and there were no injuries.
