JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said a soldier was killed Wednesday when the driver of “a Palestinian truck” rammed into “forces conducting operational activity” in the occupied West Bank.
The suspected assailant was “neutralized” by Israeli forces “and an armed civilian” at the scene of the attack near the Jewish settlement of Givat Assaf, north of Ramallah, an army statement said.
It later identified the dead soldier as 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and is separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory, has seen a surge of violence during nearly a year of the Israel-Hamas war, though Palestinian car-ramming attacks have been rare.
The latest incident comes days after a Jordanian truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at a West Bank crossing with Jordan.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 24 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
The West Bank is home to some three million Palestinians as well as 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Israel says soldier killed in West Bank truck-ramming attack
https://arab.news/bqcz5
Israel says soldier killed in West Bank truck-ramming attack
- The suspected assailant was “neutralized” by Israeli forces “and an armed civilian” at the scene of the attack
- It later identified the dead soldier as 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal
Jordan condemns Israeli far-right minister Ben-Gvir’s storming of Al-Aqsa compound
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson warned of Israeli attempts to divide the compound both temporally and spatially
LONDON: Jordan condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday in East Jerusalem.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates spokesperson Fouad Majali denounced the incident as a “blatant” violation of the site’s status quo, a desecration of its sanctity, and a dangerous provocation. He stressed that Israel has no sovereignty over occupied East Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites, according to the Petra news agency.
Ben-Gvir has visited Al-Aqsa’s compound several times in recent years, despite widespread condemnation.
Majali warned of Israeli attempts to divide the compound both temporally and spatially, saying that these “provocative and inflammatory” actions aim to impose a new reality at the site.
“Israel’s violations reflect the extremist Israeli government’s policy of escalating dangerous and unilateral measures in the occupied West Bank and of violating the sanctity of holy sites in occupied Jerusalem,” he added.
