BICOM

Three Israeli soldiers have been injured in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, after a Palestinian drove a car into their vehicle, seemingly deliberately.

The incident took place yeseterday on Route 60 near the community of Neve Daniel. The three soldiers were lightly wounded, while the Palestinian driver suffered serious injuries. Route 60, a major thoroughfare, was briefly closed following the attack between Neve Daniel and the Gush Etzion junction. An army statement said: “Initial inquiry indicates that the ramming was intentional.”

The police concurred, saying it appeared that the Palestinian driver “intentionally collided with the military vehicle”.

The incident follows a week of deadly attacks. 13-year-old Hallel Yaffe Ariel was stabbed to death in her bed in Kiryat Arba, just south from where the car ramming took place. On Friday, in the same area, Rabbi Michael Mark, the head of a local religious seminary and father of ten, was killed following a drive-by shooting. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited the Mark family yesterday to pay his condolences. According to a spokesman for the South Hebron Hills Regional Council, Lieberman said:  “I have no intention of remaining passive.”

Earlier this week, a Palestinian woman attempted to stab an Israeli soldier near the West Bank city of Ariel. The soldier shot, wounded and apprehended the attacker, who was taken to a hospital in Petach Tikva for treatment. In a similar incident on Tuesday a Palestinian woman was critically shot at the Giti Intersection in the West Bank after attempting to stab a soldier.

At least 39 Israelis have been killed in a wave of Palestinian attacks which began in October, mainly consisting of stabbings and vehicle attacks similar to yesterday’s incident. The Gush Etzion region, just south of Jerusalem, has been a particular focus of the attacks, with several deadly incidents having taken place in a region where Israelis and Palestinians live in close proximity to each other.