Aluf Sade Tunnel Crash Driver Granted Early Release After 11 Months

A parole board at the Tzalmon prison, chaired by retired judge Ronit Bash, has ordered the early release of Khaled bin Muhammad Mahamid, who was convicted of causing the death by negligence of two workers and injuring five others in a fatal traffic collision in 2019 at the Aluf Sade tunnel. Mahamid, a 34-year-old resident of Umm al-Fahm, will be released after serving only 11 months of an 18-month prison sentence.

Details of the 2019 Crash

According to the indictment filed in the Bat Yam Traffic Magistrates Court, the tragic incident occurred on the morning of December 22, 2019. Mahamid, working as a transportation driver, picked up seven workers in a commercial vehicle to take them to a construction site in Givatayim. As he exited the Aluf Sade tunnel, his vehicle veered from its lane and crashed heavily into the rear of a stationary truck parked in the right-hand lane with its hazard lights on. Passengers Yunes Kharaz and Sami Yassin were trapped beneath the truck and killed instantly, while several others sustained injuries.

The accident was caused by the driver's negligent driving, severe carelessness, and inattention. He failed to adapt his driving to road conditions and operated the vehicle in a manner that endangered all passengers.

Parole Board Decision

Mahamid's defense attorneys, Alina and Lior Karsenty, petitioned the parole board for a sentence reduction. While the police did not object, the State Attorney's Office opposed the release due to the severity of the offense. However, the parole board highlighted the prisoner's confession, sincere remorse, positive behavior at Gilboa and Tzalmon prisons, and the fact that he fully paid court-ordered compensation to the victims' families.

The board concluded that Mahamid's low risk to public safety justified an early release under restrictive conditions, including mandatory police station check-ins and a travel ban. His attorneys emphasized that the incident was a tragic negligence case involving a previously normative driver with no criminal record who took full responsibility for his actions.