One Israeli soldier killed and several injured in Palestinian car ramming attack

One Israeli soldier was killed and three others injured in a car ramming attack at a West Bank checkpoint on Thursday morning. 

According to Israeli authorities, a 41-year-old Palestinian rammed his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in the Israeli side of the Maccabim Checkpoint leading into the West Bank. One of the injured was an Arab-Israeli man selling bagels at the checkpoint.

An IDF official said that the suspect had a working permit to Israel and had been in the Israeli city of Gedera earlier in the day. When he saw the group of Israeli soldiers standing at the bus stop near the checkpoint, he did a u-turn with his truck and rammed into the group.

The suspect managed to escape but was shot and “neutralised” by security forces about four miles away from the scene of the attack.

Commander of the Central Police District, Superintendent Avi Biton, said there “is no doubt” that the car ramming was a terror attack.

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich showed up at the scene of the attack, saying that Israel won’t accept a situation in which it has to bury victims of terror every few days.

On Wednesday evening, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy attacked an Israeli man with a knife at a light rail station in Jerusalem, leaving him moderately wounded. The boy was shot dead by Border Police at the scene.

In the West Bank, another attack took place against Israelis visiting Joseph’s Tomb in the Palestinian controlled area of Nablus.

Four Israeli soldiers were wounded after explosive devices detonated near the tomb. A local wing of Islamic Jihad later took responsibility for the attack.

The soldiers were escorting dozens of religious Jews to the contentious site, including lawmaker Zvi Sukkot from the far-right Religious Zionism party.