IDF: Palestinian shot after ramming troops near Hebron; soldier lightly hurt
Soldiers manning post near southern West Bank city open fire at vehicle accelerating toward them; suspect seriously wounded
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A Palestinian man was shot by Israeli soldiers after allegedly ramming them with his vehicle near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday morning, the military said.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops of the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion were manning an army post near Hebron when a Palestinian driver accelerated toward them.
The soldiers opened fire at the vehicle, seriously wounding the Palestinian man.
Images from the scene showed the car, which had slammed into a concrete block at the army post, riddled with bullet holes.
One soldier was wounded as a result of the ramming, the IDF said. He was taken to a hospital in good condition.
Violence has surged across the West Bank over the past year and a half, with a rise in Palestinian shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and troops, near-nightly arrest raids by the military, and an uptick in revenge attacks by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians.
تغطية صحفية: "اللحظات الأولى لاستشهاد فلسطيني بعد اطلاق النار عليه بدعوى محاولة دهس مجموعة جنود في بيت حجاي قرب الخليل". pic.twitter.com/Q4bsY727rp
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) August 30, 2023
Late Tuesday, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an army post near the northern West Bank town of Yabed, causing no injuries.
The IDF said Wednesday morning that troops detained 16 wanted Palestinians during overnight raids throughout the West Bank, with clashes in some areas.
A string of Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank since the beginning of the year have left 27 civilians and two soldiers dead, and several others seriously wounded.
According to a tally by The Times of Israel, 175 West Bank Palestinians have been killed during the same period — most of them during clashes with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances, including by armed Israeli settlers.
