A deadly collision on Highway 90 in the northern Dead Sea area, close to the Einat Tsukim nature reserve on Thursday afternoon closed the road to traffic for hours.
The crash between two cars left one man dead and four other people injured.
According to a report broadcast on Israel Radio, three of the injured were evacuated to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center. The fourth was a woman in her 40s, who was airlifted in serious condition to a separate hospital.
Highway 90 is the main artery that reaches from the eastern side of northern Israel straight down past the Jordan Valley, along the Dead Sea shore, through the Arava, all the way to Eilat.
The year 2016 has been declared the deadliest in the past five years on Israeli roads, according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA). The Authority said in its annual report that young people are also dying in greater numbers: 35 were killed on the roads in 2015, and 41 this year so far.
This year a total of 371 people have died in traffic accidents on Israeli roads, an increase of 15 more deaths than last year. So far this month, 32 people were killed on the road, compared with 29 deaths in December 2015.