Soldier who lost leg in West Bank ramming attack moved out of ICU

Shadi Ibrahim thanks well-wishers, days after waking up following multiple surgeries; uncle says he wants to return to his unit

Shadi Ibrahim, an Armored Corps soldier who lost his leg in a West Bank car-ramming attack, is seen in a video from his hospital bed at Soroka Medical Center in Beersehba on May 22, 2020. (Screen capture: Channel 13 news)
Shadi Ibrahim, an Armored Corps soldier who lost his leg in a West Bank car-ramming attack, is seen in a video from his hospital bed at Soroka Medical Center in Beersehba on May 22, 2020. (Screen capture: Channel 13 news)

An Israeli soldier who lost his leg after being injured in a recent car-ramming attack in the West Bank has been released from the intensive care unit.

״I left the emergency room. Everything’s fine, I’m alright,” Shadi Ibrahim said in a video from his hospital bed at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

Ibrahim, a 20-year-old from the Druze town of Sajur in northern Israel, thanked everyone who sent him messages of support.

“I couldn’t answer but I send my greetings. I love you and trust you,” he said.

After awakening Wednesday following numerous surgeries and the amputation of his leg, Ibrahim said he wanted to return to his Armored Corps unit, his uncle Assad told the Ynet news site.

“I feel good. I want to return to my soldiers,” his uncle quoted him as saying. “Nothing will break me.”

Ibrahim was seriously injured in a ramming attack near the Negohot settlement in the southern Hebron Hills on May 14.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the driver accelerated as he drove his car toward a group of soldiers who were standing next to a military post outside Negohot.

The driver struck Ibrahim before another serviceman opened fire at the car and killed him, an army spokesperson said at the time.

The scene of a suspected car-ramming attack in the southern West Bank on May 14, 2020. (Israel Defense Forces)

The attack came amid an uptick in violence in the West Bank in recent weeks, following a relative lull amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Israeli defense officials have warned of a potential outbreak of violence because of the coronavirus-related economic woes of the Palestinian Authority, as well as in response to plans by the government to unilaterally annex portions of the West Bank.

On Thursday, Israeli sources confirmed that the PA was ending security cooperation after PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was no longer bound by agreements with Israel due to the new government’s annexation plans.

Despite the PA’s vow, the Ynet news site on Friday quoted Israeli officials saying the Palestinians told Israel that they were not ready to “smash the dishes” and would not allow an outbreak of violent incidents.

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