Three injured in truck ramming attack at West Bank checkpoint

Jerusalem – A truck driver rammed his vehicle near a checkpoint in the West Bank Thursday, injuring three people before he was “neutralised”, medics and police said, in the latest attack to rock the occupied territory.

Violence linked to the Israel-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 light rail station in Jerusalem.

“A short while ago, the police received a report about a hit-and-run incident near the Maccabim checkpoint,” Israeli police said in a statement.

“The truck driver fled the scene and was neutralised near the Hashmonaim checkpoint,” they said, without detailing whether the driver was killed. 

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 Magen David Adom emergency service said three young men were hit by the vehicle, including one who was in a “critical” condition. 

The injured had been evacuated from the site of the incident, it added.

Thursday’s attack came hours after four Israeli soldiers were wounded by an explosive device while 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, 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.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far has claimed the lives of at least 223 Palestinians this year.

At least 31 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have also been killed, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.