Hospital spokesman says victim’s situation has stabilized somewhat, but she’s still on respirator; second seriously hurt soldier now stable
An Israeli soldier wounded in a deadly terror attack remains in a coma but doctors have managed to partially stabilize her, a doctor at her hospital said Monday morning.
The soldier, whose name has not been released, is still in life-threatening condition but has begun to improve, Dr. Ofer Marin, head of the trauma unit at Shaare Zedek in Jerusalem, told reporters.
She was one of 16 people injured in the Sunday attack, in which a driver plowed his truck into a group of soldiers standing near a bus on a popular promenade in the capital. Four people were killed — three officer school cadets and one officer.
Marin said the seriously wounded soldier is sedated and breathing with the help of respirator and will need to undergo additional operations until her condition stabilizes. He said she suffered multiple internal injuries.
No other victim is in life-threatening condition, and at least four soldiers were released overnight, the hospital said.
Another soldier who was seriously wounded Sunday is now in stable condition, after his condition began to stabilize following an emergency operation, a spokesman for Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem said, adding that he is fully conscious.
An additional three soldiers remain hospitalized at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, with one in moderate condition and the other two listed as having been lightly injured.
All three will continue to undergo treatment, a hospital spokesperson said.
Sunday’s attack occurred as a group of soldiers were getting off a bus at the Haas Promenade in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, a popular tourist spot in southern Jerusalem, when East Jerusalem resident Fadi al-Qanbar drove a large flatbed truck into them.
The four soldiers who were killed — Lieutenant Yael Yekutiel, 20, of Givatayim, Cadet Shir Hajaj, 22, of Maaleh Adumim, Cadet Shira Tzur, 20, from Haifa, and Cadet Erez Orbach, 20, from Alon Shvut — were slated to be buried later Monday.
According to police, the driver, an East Jerusalem man, accelerated as he struck the group.
After the driver hit the soldiers with his truck, he put the vehicle in reverse and ran over them a second time.
The terrorist was shot by soldiers and a civilian guide, police said. He died of his wounds.
As reported by The Times of Israel