IDF: 2 soldiers wounded in car-ramming attack in northern West Bank
Troops shoot, wound two Palestinians driving suspicious vehicle in Nazlet Zeid village; one soldier hurt by shrapnel from gunfire toward suspects
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Two Israeli soldiers were wounded during an alleged car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank on Monday evening, the military and medics said.
The Israel Defense Forces said that a suspicious Palestinian-owned car accelerated toward troops carrying out a patrol at a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Nazlet Zeid.
“The soldiers responded with live fire,” the IDF said, adding that the suspects were hit.
The Rescuers Without Border emergency service said one of the soldiers was treated for a sprained leg at the scene.
The second, aged 38, was taken by the Magen David Adom ambulance service to the Hillel Yaffe hospital in Hadera, after suffering a shrapnel wound as a result of the gunfire toward the Palestinian suspects. He was listed in good condition, MDA said.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry said two men in the car that was shot at by Israeli troops were taken to a hospital in Jenin, and that one of them was listed in critical condition.
من مكان إطلاق قوات الاحتلال النار بكثافة تجاه مركبة في قرية نزلة الشيخ زيد جنوب غرب جنين. pic.twitter.com/J74wDQJCu2
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 19, 2023
The incident came hours after a heavy gun battle between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin. Eight IDF soldiers were wounded in the clashes and as a result of a roadside bomb that was detonated near an army vehicle. Five Palestinians were killed and nearly 100 were wounded in the clashes.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been elevated for the past year, with the military carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank, amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
Since the beginning of the year, Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank have killed 20 people and left several more seriously hurt.
According to a tally by The Times of Israel, 122 West Bank Palestinians have been killed during that span, most of them during clashes with security forces, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances.
