IDF charges Palestinian who seriously wounded soldier outside settlement

The IDF’s Military Prosecution on Monday indicted a Palestinian man alleged to have seriously wounded a soldier at a guard post outside the Beit El settlement last month.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was charged on two counts of attempted intentional killing — the military equivalent of attempted murder — in addition to other charges, the army said in a statement.

The Military Advocate General also requested that the Judea Military Court extend the suspect’s remand until the completion of legal proceedings against him.

According to the indictment, the Palestinian man broke into a military position near the central West Bank settlement of Beit El on December 14, stabbed the soldier stationed there on guard duty and struck him in the head with a rock. The suspect then fled the scene, prompting a manhunt.

The next day, the assailant turned himself in to security forces and has since been in Israeli custody.

The soldier targeted in the attack, 21-year-old Naveh Rotem, was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in serious condition, unconscious and on a ventilator. Doctors said his condition was life-threatening upon arrival. However, his condition improved the following day and he was released from the hospital six days later.

The attack outside Beit El came amid a spate of violent incidents targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank.

A day earlier, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus stop outside the nearby Givat Assaf outpost, killing Staff Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef, 20, and Sgt. Yosef Cohen, 19.

Four days before that, terrorists opened fire at another bus stop outside the Ofra settlement, injuring seven Israelis. Among the wounded was a pregnant woman whose baby died after being delivered prematurely.

The three deadly attacks came roughly a month after a Palestinian woman,47-year-old Aisha Rabi, was struck in the head with a large stone and killed while driving in the northern West Bank with her husband and daughter.  The Shin Bet security service and the police’s nationalistic crimes unit have been probing the incident as an alleged Jewish terror attack and announced last week that they intend to indict one of the five Israeli teens arrested for involvement in the deadly stone throwing.