Israeli soldier, Palestinian killed in truck ramming

MODIIN — A Palestinian rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers near a checkpoint between Israel and the occupied West Bank on Thursday, killing one before being shot dead, Israeli officials said.

Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged since early this year, and Thursday’s attack comes a day after a 14-year-old Palestinian stabbed a civilian at a tram station in Jerusalem.

The truck driver was a 41-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank with a work permit for Israel, Avi Biton, head of central command, told reporters at the scene of the attack.

“The people he hit with his truck were soldiers,” he said.

One soldier, Maksym Molchanov, 20, was killed and three others were wounded, one of them severely, the army said in a statement.

Forces earlier said officers had “received a report about a hit-and-run incident near the Maccabim checkpoint” near the Israeli town of Modiin.

The driver sped off in the truck before being shot dead at another checkpoint a few kilometres away at Hashmonaim in the West Bank.

Israel’s defence ministry said its security personnel at the Hashmonaim checkpoint were informed by the army that the truck was coming their way.

The driver, Dawood Abed Razeq Fayez, was a resident of Deir Ammar refugee camp near Ramallah, a Palestinian security source told AFP. He declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the killing of Fayez.

In an online briefing to reporters, an Israeli defence official who did not want to be identified said the attack occurred on the Israeli side of the checkpoint.

The attacker “was on his way to the checkpoint when he saw a group of soldiers. He made a U-turn to hit them”, the official said, adding that the soldiers were off-duty and heading home when they were struck.

Rising violence 

The Magen David Adom emergency service said seven people were injured in the attack including a 15-year-old Palestinian.

Thursday’s ramming came after an improvised explosive device wounded four Israeli soldiers during the night as they were securing a road for the passage of Jewish pilgrims to a holy site in West Bank city of Nablus.

One of the soldiers was moderately wounded, the others lightly hurt, the army said in a statement.

In Wednesday’s incident in Jerusalem, an Israeli border police officer who was travelling in a tram saw the attack as it happened and shot dead the teenager who was from east Jerusalem, a predominantly Palestinian area.

In another incident on Wednesday morning, the Israeli forces said it had “neutralised” a Palestinian who injured a soldier in a vehicle attack at a military site near the city of Hebron in the West Bank.

Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, praised the recent attacks and said Thursday’s ramming “affirms the ability of the resistance” to strike at Israeli forces.

Violence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged and has claimed the lives of at least 224 Palestinians so far this year.