Suspect in ramming, stabbing attack says 'it was a car accident'

Four people were injured in attack near Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, including a 19-year-old female soldier.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: OCTOBER 12, 2015 16:48
Terror attack: 3 wounded at Kibbutz Gan Shmuel in central Israel
A man arrested on suspicion of ramming his car into a group of people and stabbing others on highway 65 Sunday night claims the incident was all a road accident.
During suspect Ala Zwid’s remand extension at the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Monday, his court-appointed attorney Wissam Araf said Zwid “denies the accusation and says that it was a traffic accident.”
Prosecutor Shadi Siagah referred to Zwid, a 20-year-old resident of Umm al-Fahm as “apparently an everyday citizen who decided in the middle of the day to take his car and harm innocents by trying to run them over, and then he got out of the car and attempted to stab them.”
What are the Palestinians hoping to achieve? ‏
He argued that the state still has at least six eye witnesses to question about the case and requested that the presiding judge order Zwid kept in custody. In the end, Zwid's remand was extended by nine days.
During the incident, an assailant who police say was Zwid drove his car into a group of people on the side of the road on highway 65 and then got out and started stabbing people before fleeing the scene.
A 19-year-old female soldier was badly wounded with multi-systemic injuries after she was hit by the car and was taken to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera while unconscious and hooked up  to a respirator.
 The other victims include a 14-year-old boy lightly to moderately wounded after he was hit by the car, as well as a 45-year-old man and a 19-year-old man both suffering who were lightly and moderately wounded, respectively.
 The incident took place in the evening hours on a stretch of highway 65 north of Hadera and right next to Kibbutz Gan Shmuel and a busy shopping center.
According to the Shin Bet, Zwid is originally from the Palestinian village of Masilat a-Hartaiyya near Jenin, and came to Israel with his father under the Family Unification Law.