Suspected driver in car-ramming near Jerusalem arrested, army says

A driver suspected of ramming his vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank Saturday night was caught after a brief manhunt, the IDF said Sunday morning.

The driver is alleged to have steered his vehicle into the troops near the Hizme checkpoint northeast of Jerusalem, injuring five people late Saturday.

Three of soldiers suffered moderate injuries and two were lightly hurt, according to the army.

The driver was arrested along with his father in the nearby Palestinian town of Hizme, according to Palestinian media reports.

The army said the pair were being questioned after the arrests, which took place after a search in the area of the attack and intelligence-gathering operations.

The IDF said in a statement that it is treating the incident as a terror attack. It said the driver, who was not identified, rammed his car into the soldiers after seeing them on the side of the road.

The soldiers were near the village as part of an unspecified “operational mission,” according to the army.

One of those moderately injured was a career soldier in his 30s while another was a female soldier in her 20s, according to reports.

The MDA rescue service said the wounded were taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus for treatment.