A 17-year-old Israeli boy died and four others were injured in a car crash in the Lower Galilee early Sunday morning, amid a barrage of Hezbollah rocket attacks from Lebanon, authorities announced.
The teenager, identified as Noam Yehiel from Moshav Ahi’ezer in central Israel, was killed when a driver veered off the road and hit a wall on Route 77, between the Ramat Yishai Junction and the community of Zarzir.
Noam’s father is singer Erez Yehiel, known for his musical renditions of Psalms and other religious texts.
“He was a cute boy, he was on his way to the yeshivah. This is difficult news for us, the whole moshav is in shock,” Moshav Ahi’ezer said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
The other four victims sustained light-to-medium injuries. The Magen David Adom emergency-response service evacuated a man in his 20s in moderate condition to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center.
An initial probe showed that the accident occurred when air-raid sirens sounded across northern Israel, and police were said to be investigating whether this distracted the driver and caused the vehicle to crash.
Yaron Ben-Yishai, the commander of the Israel Police’s Migdal HaEmek station, urged all drivers to avoid the north amid the Hezbollah attacks.
“There are many scenes we are currently dealing with,” he said of the 140-plus projectiles launched at Israel on Sunday morning. “I call on all drivers: During a siren, stop by the side of the road, cross over the barrier, lie down and wait for 10 minutes from when the alarm sounds.”
At least six people were hurt when Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists launched over 140 rockets and explosive drones at northern Israel overnight Saturday and Sunday morning.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, rockets hit Kiryat Bialik, near Haifa, and Moreshet, a town in the Lower Galilee. The IDF’s aerial defense array intercepted some of the projectiles.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the launches, saying that it had fired “dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles” at the Ramat David Airbase and a Rafael Advanced Defense Systems facility near Haifa. This reportedly marked the first time that it has used this type of weapon since Oct. 8.
Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since Oct. 8, 2023, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.
