Israeli soldier critically injured in car-ramming attack in West Bank

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli soldier was critically injured in a car-ramming attack near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday.

Video footage shared on social media showed a gas tanker rolling off the road and hitting a soldier at a checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Givat Asaf.

The Israeli army said the assailant was “neutralized” at the scene.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said the driver was killed, but did not give details about his identity.

Palestinian resistance group Hamas, for its part, hailed the ramming attack as “heroic,” saying it was a “normal response” to Israeli attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank amid Israel’s devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

Nearly 700 people have since been killed and more than 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19 that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara