Son of Israeli Ambassador to US in Critical Condition After West Bank Car-Ramming Attack

The son of Israel's ambassador to the United States has been left in critical condition after being struck in a car-ramming attack by a Palestinian resident in the occupied West Bank.

Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., posted on X local time yesterday that his son Neria, a reservist, was rushed to a hospital in Jerusalem, stating that "a miracle is needed for his survival."

According to Israeli authorities, the car-ramming attack took place at the Maccabim checkpoint near the Israeli border, where Neria was on duty at the time.

Israeli police announced that an assailant drove a vehicle toward a police car, injuring a soldier who was with police officers, and that security forces at the scene immediately shot and killed the attacker.

Israel's emergency rescue service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported that the victim, a man in his 30s, suffered severe injuries and was unconscious.

Neria's older brother was reportedly killed in action in northern Gaza in November 2023 along with three other reservists.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas immediately issued a statement praising the attack as a "heroic operation."

Hamas called it a "natural response" to attacks by extremist Israeli settlers and urged intensified "resistance in all its forms and means" in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the population is predominantly Arab.

The incident has heightened tensions as it occurred just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage to deliver a keynote speech at the UN General Assembly addressing the Middle East conflict.

Tensions in the West Bank have reached their highest level since Hamas's surprise attack on Israel and the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 1,100 Palestinians have lost their lives in the West Bank due to Israeli military operations and armed clashes since the outbreak of the Gaza war.

During the same period, violence by extremist Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian residents has also surged.

(Photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.