Nilin (Reuters) – A Palestinian truck driver killed an Israeli during a ramming attack targeting soldiers near a checkpoint on the boundary with the occupied West Bank on Thursday, and was shot dead during an ensuing pursuit, Israeli police and medical officials said.
The military said three of its troops were injured in the incident on the Israeli side of Maccabim checkpoint. It said they were heading home on leave and that the driver made a U-turn to run them down, also lightly injuring a roadside vendor.
Israeli officials said one of those rammed died. A medical official identified him as a soldier. The military did not immediately confirm this.
Police, describing the incident as a terrorist attack, said the driver, a 41-year-old who had a permit to work in Israel, was shot by pursuing forces outside a nearby Palestinian village, Nilin.
The Islamist militant group Hamas, which has stepped up attacks in the West Bank in a challenge to Israel and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, described the incident as an “heroic operation” but did not claim credit.
The West Bank, among areas where Palestinians seek statehood, has seen a surge of violence in recent months.
