9 Palestinian children die in crash

In a tragedy, nine Palestinian kindergarten children were among 10 killed and more than 30 injured on Thursday when an Israeli truck hit a Palestinian school bus in the West Bank, police said.

“This was a head-on collision between a truck and a bus transporting children,” Danny Rotenberg, a spokesperson for Magen David Adom rescue services said. The children were between the ages of 10 and 16.

“The force of the collision caused the bus to flip over and catch fire. We have 10 casualties on the scene and we are making sure that there aren’t any more,” he added.
Magen David Adom has declared the incident “a mass causalty event” as large police, fire and rescue teams, aided by Red Crescent teams joined hands to save lives in the accident.

The Israeli truck driver, an Arab, is being treated for injuries and is due to be questioned by the police, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The injured were rushed to Hadassah Mount Scopus and Hadassah Ein Kerem hospitals in Jerusalem  Hadassah Mount Scopus spokesman Ron Kromer confirmed that three children were admitted to the medical centre’s burn unit, suffering from extensive burns to their face. “They are in very serious condition,” Kromer said.

The accident took place near Adam Square in the north of the city, not far from the Hizma checkpoint separating Jerusalem and the West Bank.