Five Israeli soldiers were injured Wednesday when a Palestinian driver plowed his car into them on Route 60, north of the West Bank city of Hebron, in an apparent nationalistically motivated attack, the army said.
Two soldiers were hospitalized in moderate condition and three more suffered light injuries, according to the army.
Paramedics were at the scene of the attack, near the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar, treating the injured. Magen David Adom said all the injured were in their 20s.
The driver of the vehicle was shot by Israeli security forces at the scene, the army said.
“Forces on site who witnessed the attack responded, firing at the assailant,” the IDF said in a statement.
Palestinian rioters at the scene of the attack threw stones and prevented emergency services from reaching the victims, according to Channel 2.
According to the IDF, the attack occurred after an army jeep was pelted with stones, and two soldiers exited to call for backup.
“An additional force had just arrived at the scene when a Palestinian suspect sped his car towards the soldiers, intentionally ramming into them and wounding five,” the army said.
The attack was the third in that vicinity in recent days in which a Palestinian driver struck an Israeli pedestrian, and the latest in a series of attacks along Route 60 in the last two days.
On Tuesday afternoon, two Israelis were injured when a car plowed into a bus stop at the Gush Etzion junction, just north of Beit Ummar.
Hours earlier, an Israeli man was killed after being run over by a truck driven by a Palestinian, after getting out his car, which had just been pelted with stones, near the West Bank city of Hebron.
The driver later turned himself into police and said he had hit Avraham Hasano by accident while trying to evade rocks.
Hasano’s family, however, claimed his death was deliberate, and that the same driver had attempted it before.
Wednesday also saw two other attacks on the same highway north of Jerusalem.
In one incident, a driver rammed his car through a checkpoint, moderately injuring a policeman.
Later in the day, a soldier was stabbed and seriously wounded near the Hizme checkpoint.
An Israeli soldier was in critical condition Wednesday after she was stabbed by a Palestinian near the Adam junction, near the Hizme checkpoint north of Jerusalem.
The 20-year-old woman sustained a stab wound to her upper body and was undergoing surgery at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus. Her life was in danger, doctors said.
“When we got to the scene we saw a young woman around 19 years old, conscious, suffering a stab wound to her upper body. We gave her life-saving first aid and evacuated her quickly in very serious condition,” Magen David Adom paramedic Shai Levi said.
The stabber was shot and killed by a Home Front Command soldier at the scene, the IDF said. A suspected accomplice was arrested. Palestinian media identified the man as 22-year-old Muataz Atallah Qassem of East Jerusalem’s Eizariya neighborhood.
Police blocked the area off for traffic, and began searching for explosive devices.
An Israeli policeman was mildly injured in an apparent car-ramming attack Wednesday next to the West Bank settlement of Ofra, north of Jerusalem.
The driver crashed into the checkpoint after ignoring police warnings to stop. Security forces reportedly opened fire on the vehicle as it approached the barrier, according to the Nana10 news site.
The driver was not apprehended and managed to flee the scene to the nearby village of Silwad. Security forces were searching the area for the suspect.
Magen David Adom paramedics administered first-aid treatment to the injured policeman, who did not need to be taken to a hospital.
The incident came a day after similar attacks in the southern West Bank. A soldier and a civilian were lightly hurt Tuesday morning when a car rammed into a bus stop in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem.
Later Tuesday, an Israeli man from Kiryat Arba was hit by a truck and killed Tuesday afternoon after he emerged from his vehicle, which had just been hit by Palestinian rock throwers.
The Palestinian Authority warned on Wednesday that Israel’s “daily killings and incitement against President Mahmoud Abbas would lead to a big explosion.”
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, accused Israel of placing obstacles in the way of UN and US efforts to decrease tension. He also repeated the charge that Israel is trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, accused Israel of placing obstacles in the way of UN and US efforts to decrease tension. He also repeated the charge that Israel is trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Meanwhile, Abbas, who met in Ramallah with UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, called for providing international protection for the Palestinians against “assaults by the occupation army and settler terrorism.”
The Palestinians, he added, have “lost the ability to defend themselves against the settlers and army.”
The Palestinians, he added, have “lost the ability to defend themselves against the settlers and army.”
Abbas accused Israel of imposing collective punishment on Palestinians, such as house demolitions and the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.
He also accused Israel of committing “violations” against Islamic and Christian holy sites, including the Aksa Mosque. Abbas said that Israel’s measures would pave the way for the eruption of a “bitter religious conflict that we don’t want.”
He also accused Israel of committing “violations” against Islamic and Christian holy sites, including the Aksa Mosque. Abbas said that Israel’s measures would pave the way for the eruption of a “bitter religious conflict that we don’t want.”
He also accused Israel of committing “violations” against Islamic and Christian holy sites, including the Aksa Mosque. Abbas said that Israel’s measures would pave the way for the eruption of a “bitter religious conflict that we don’t want.”
Ban, for his part, denounced “hateful discourse” on both sides and said Israel’s response to the recent terrorist attacks had “added to the already difficult challenges of restoring clam.”
He said that the UN would “continue to support all efforts to create the conditions to make meaningful negotiations possible” between Israel and the Palestinians.
“But ultimately, it is for the Palestinians and Israelis to chose peace,” he said. “Our most urgent challenge is to stop the current wave of violence and avoid any further loss of life.”
He said that the UN would “continue to support all efforts to create the conditions to make meaningful negotiations possible” between Israel and the Palestinians.
“But ultimately, it is for the Palestinians and Israelis to chose peace,” he said. “Our most urgent challenge is to stop the current wave of violence and avoid any further loss of life.”
Ban said he “understands the frustration that comes after years of dashed hopes. But the only way to end the violence is through real and visible progress toward a political solution, including an end to the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state living in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”
He called on Israel and the Palestinians to refrain from unilateral steps that “diminish prospects for peace, and make significant improvements on the ground aimed at building the foundations for a two-state solution.”
He said he is deeply concerned by “repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem, which have fueled the current outbreak of violence. Addressing the existing tensions is critical to reversing the trend toward escalation.”
Ban said he welcomes Israel’s repeated assurances that it has no intention of changing the historic status quo at the holy sites.
“In my meetings yesterday with Israeli officials, I also stressed that it is only through actions on the ground that perceptions will begin to change,” he said.
“Palestinian and Israeli political, community, and religious leaders must stand firm against terrorism, violence and incitement. The hateful discourse of the past weeks is deeply worrying and must be firmly denounced by all sides.
“The response by Israel has also added to the already difficult challenge of restoring calm. I emphasized to Prime Minister Netanyahu the urgency of addressing this issue. Of course, Israelis should not have to live in constant fear of the next attack,” Ban said.
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