A general view of a highway in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 15, 2019. Photo: Nazanin Tabatabaee / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters / File.

JNS.org – The Israeli-Arab man seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in the north of the country two weeks ago spoke to the media for the first time on Tuesday, describing the explosion that left him hospitalized.

“I slowed down and then there was an explosion, I didn’t see anything and then I couldn’t stop the car,” Shareef ad-Din, 21, an engineering student and a resident of the town of Salem, told Channel 12.

“I tried to stop the car and I didn’t see anything. I tried to open the door, but I felt resistance,” ad-Din said from Rambam Medical Center in Haifa where he is recovering with his family at his bedside.

Although ad-Dan was wounded in what the Israeli government calls “hostile action,” according to the report he did not initially receive this designation. However, after the Channel 12 news story aired, the National Insurance Institute contacted him and said that he would be recognized as a victim of hostile action. His claim was transferred to the Defense Ministry and approved on Tuesday.

The terrorist who placed the roadside bomb along the Route 65 highway near the Megiddo Junction on March 13 infiltrated the country from Lebanon using a ladder to climb over the border fence, said the Israel Defense Forces.

Equipped with a suicide vest and a rifle, the terrorist was subsequently killed by security personnel after being stopped at a checkpoint near the village of Ya’ara. A further investigation revealed that he moved around the country on an electric bicycle. Authorities are examining whether he received assistance with the battery.

Dr. Lior Lev Tov, the senior surgeon at Rambam who treated ad-Din, said he “arrived in a very serious condition, with a severe head wound, with injuries from shrapnel and the blast. After a rather long treatment process, we managed to stabilize his condition. He is currently in the recovery ward for further treatment. He now has to go through a long rehabilitation process.”