Road 463 protest and fatal accidents mark a violent day in Israel

Residents demand reopening of a road closed 27 years ago as three traffic fatalities are recorded in 24 hours.

Road 463 protest and fatal accidents mark a violent day in Israel — A group of over 1,200 residents of the Binyamin region is demanding the reopening of the Valerstein route (Road 463), which was closed to Jewish traffic 27 years ago. [^1] The closure extended travel time between communities from 12 minutes to nearly an hour; reopening would cut that by about 60 percent. [^1] Dr. Mati Erlichman is quoted in support, but the i24 report does not present the security establishment's or military's position on the matter. [^1] The dilemma pits settlement continuity against the original security rationale for closure. Thursday afternoon, a man in his 30s was killed after being hit by a truck on Highway 65 near Afula. [^2] Hours earlier, a pedestrian about 60 years old was killed by a truck in Tayibe. [^5] Yesterday evening, Menachem G'hasi, 67, from Yokneam, died in a road accident near the Megiddo junction while riding a motorcycle to a wedding. His daughter Yifat said he and his wife had been married for 45 years. Yokneam Mayor Roman Peres said, "Yokneam has lost a true man of kindness." As of June 21, road accident fatalities in Israel stood at 201. This evening, an elderly couple in their 70s were found unconscious in their home in Pisgat Ze'ev, Jerusalem. [^3] MDA paramedic Kerem Araki described the incident. [^3] Separately, firefighters responded to reports of smoke at Jerusalem's Yitzhak Navon train station on Thursday morning. The station was evacuated; no injuries were reported. The day's events—three fatal accidents, a suspected gas leak, and a station scare—underscore the mundane dangers that persist alongside the political dispute over Road 463. Nvidia's shadow and a fiscal trilemma: Israel's economy today — Shufersal, the food and pharmacy giant controlled by the brothers Yossi and Shlomi Amir, published weak second-quarter results today (Thursday), with revenues falling 7.5% to 3.4 billion shekels and net profit plunging 34.5% to 125 million shekels . The stock is falling more than 8% on the stock exchange, and the company still announced a dividend distribution of 180 million shekels. Meanwhile, Nvidia Israel's revenue reached $17.5 billion i