IDF soldier wounded in car-ramming at army post near Hebron; attacker ‘neutralized’
Reservist seriously hurt, taken to hospital for treatment; attack takes place near site of similar assault Friday, where 5 soldiers were hurt
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
An Israeli soldier was seriously wounded in a car-ramming attack at a army position in the southern West Bank, the military and medics said Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces said the attack took place near the al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron, not far from the site of a car-ramming attack Friday in which five soldiers were wounded.
It said troops “neutralized” the assailant in the attack, and later confirmed that a reservist of the 7018th Battalion was seriously wounded in the attack.
He was taken to Soroka Medical Center for further treatment.
In Friday’s attack, near Adorayim Junction, one soldier was listed in serious condition, while the other four were light-to-moderately hurt, according to the IDF. All five were taken to hospitals in Israel for treatment.
Troops operating in the area shot and killed the assailant, identified as Amr Abd al-Fattah Abu Hussein by the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
Earlier this week, two people were wounded in a stabbing attack at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said Thursday its medics treated a woman, later identified as a Border Police officer in her 20s, and a 25-year-old civilian security guard, at the Mazmuria checkpoint near the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa.
Health officials said both were hospitalized and were in light-to-moderate condition.
The alleged assailant, a 24-year-old East Jerusalem resident, was shot dead by security forces at the scene, police said in a statement.
According to a Times of Israel reporter who witnessed the attack, the assailant got out of a car and attacked officers guarding the checkpoint, before being shot by those he’d stabbed.
Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have been high since October 7, when some 3,000 terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel by land, sea and air, in a Hamas-led attack, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing some 240 hostages.
Israel responded with an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation with the goal of destroying Hamas and ending its 16-year rule over Gaza and securing the release of the hostages.
The IDF has continued to operate throughout the West Bank and police have been on high alert in Israel, amid concerns about a possible escalation of violence.
