A suspected Palestinian car thief drove a stolen vehicle through a checkpoint at the entrance to Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday morning before being shot dead by guards who then opened fire, police said in a statement.
It was the third such incident in a few weeks.
The suspect was slightly injured in the shooting and police said he would be questioned after receiving medical treatment.
Police said the suspect, who entered Israel illegally from the West Bank, stole a car from the country’s central region and drove to the airport.
Guards at the airport noticed the car approaching at high speed before ramming through the checkpoint and driving on the wrong side of the road.
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Airport security responded by opening fire and setting up roadblocks.
Police said the driver endangered the safety of guards and the general public.
Footage circulating on social media appeared to show passengers at the airport’s international terminal being told to lie on the ground during the incident.
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Ziv Hayat, who was in the terminal, told Channel 12 News that there was initial panic when the incident began.
“We didn’t know exactly what happened, so everyone ran in a panic and screamed. There was a moment of hysteria and stress and everyone lay down. I was with a group of American tourists who didn’t understand what was going on, so I had to explain it to them,” he said. “The incident ended after 20 minutes and we were told we could get up and carry on as normal.”
A similar incident occurred on October 23 when the airport was briefly closed while the suspect was at large.
In a nearly identical incident on September 22, a Palestinian driver rammed a stolen vehicle through a security barrier at Ben Gurion Airport without causing injury.
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