Car Bombing in Kiryat Yam: One Dead and a 13-Year-Old Boy Critically Injured

The streets of Kiryat Yam became a scene of carnage on Wednesday night when a powerful explosive device detonated within a vehicle, killing one man and seriously wounding two others, including a 13-year-old boy. The blast, which occurred on Etzel Street, was so intense that residents across the Haifa and Krayot regions reported hearing a massive boom, with many initially fearing it was a missile strike. This latest fatality adds to a staggering wave of violence that has gripped the country, occurring just 24 hours after a triple murder in the Sharon region. As police from the Zevulun station launch a high-priority investigation, the incident highlights a deteriorating security situation where criminal organizations are increasingly using high-grade explosives in residential neighborhoods, oblivious to the presence of children and innocent bystanders.

Chaos in Kiryat Yam

The explosion took place around 10:00 PM, sending plumes of smoke into the night sky and leaving a mangled wreck in the middle of a residential road. Emergency responders from Magen David Adom (MDA) and United Hatzalah rushed to the scene to find three victims scattered around the smoking vehicle. "When we arrived at the scene there was a lot of commotion, we saw the vehicle while it was emitting smoke and around it lay three wounded people," said MDA volunteer Avner Ohayon and paramedic Muhammad Hazem. They described a 40-year-old man in critical condition with multi-system trauma. Despite frantic resuscitation efforts in the intensive care ambulance, his death was confirmed shortly after.

The other victims included a 30-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy, both of whom suffered severe injuries from the blast and flying shrapnel. "A youth about 13 years old was fully conscious with severe bruises, we sedated and ventilated him," the paramedics noted. United Hatzalah medics Moshe Dov Cohen, Ariel Ben Elbaz, and Shalom Cohen assisted in the initial treatment before the survivors were rushed to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. The identity of the deceased man has not yet been released as forensic teams continue to work the scene.

A Neighborhood in Fear

For the residents of Kiryat Yam, the blast was a terrifying reminder of the thin line between criminal violence and the broader regional war. Dan, a local resident, described the moment of the explosion: "We were sitting at home and suddenly there was a huge explosion. We were sure it was a missile that hit, with all the tension and the situation around. Neighbors went outside and no one understood what was happening. Only after some time did we understand it was criminal and not a security incident. It doesn’t really make the situation easier, but at least we understood what it was."

This explosion follows a particularly bloody week in Israel. Only a day earlier, three young men from the Shafiq family were shot dead in an ambush in the Sharon region, an event police linked to a long-standing blood feud. That incident led to the arrest of three suspects from Tira. A senior police official at the Sharon scene blamed the judicial system for the recurring violence, stating, "It could have been avoided if only the legal system had allowed the police to use the tools it has in order to eradicate the phenomenon and distance criminals from society." According to the Abraham Initiatives, the death toll from violence in the Arab sector has reached 32 since the start of the year, a number that reflects a systemic failure to curb the influence of organized crime.