A teenage Palestinian riding an electric bicycle was killed near Hebron on Tuesday morning in a collision with a car reportedly belonging to a cabinet minister’s security detail.
The victim, identified by Palestinian media as Mohammad Majdi al-Ja’abari, 16, from Hebron, was declared dead by medics at the scene. Israel Police said that officers opened an investigation into the incident.
It is unclear which minister the car was meant to protect. The Maariv daily reported that, according to initial findings, the car belonged to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s security convoy. But Haaretz reported, citing a security source, that the car was en route to guard Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strock.
Ben Gvir lives in the Hebron-area settlement of Kiryat Arba. Strock lives in Hebron.
In a statement, Ben Gvir’s office said that the “vehicle is not the minister’s and the minister was not at the scene.”
“As for the incident itself: The Arab minor burst into the road at a red light, and the security guard did all he could to avoid an accident and was even injured himself and at the moment is being treated at a hospital,” the statement read.
Ben Gvir, whose ministry holds authority over the police, has a long history of traffic offenses and has been repeatedly slammed for filming himself in transit without a seatbelt during his tenure as minister.
Reports in 2023 revealed that Ben Gvir has close to 80 traffic infractions on his record, including using his phone while driving, driving without a seatbelt, and speeding.
In 2024, Ben Gvir and his daughter were lightly injured when the minister’s car flipped after he ran a red light in Ramle. Neither one had been wearing a seatbelt, according to reports.
His longtime driver, Moshe Eichenstein, was convicted of reckless driving last year for being behind the wheel during that crash, in which another driver was seriously wounded.
Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.
