West Bank Car Ramming Wounds Two Israeli Girls, Attacker Shot Dead

A Palestinian driver rammed his car into pedestrians at a busy junction in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, seriously wounding at least two Israeli teenagers before being shot dead by a soldier at the scene. The attack, which occurred at the Gush Etzion intersection south of Bethlehem, left a 17-year-old girl with severe limb injuries and a 15-year-old with moderate facial wounds, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service. Both were evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, while the military established roadblocks and launched searches for possible accomplices.

Israeli authorities described the incident as a terrorist ramming. The Palestinian Health Ministry later identified the suspect as Amjad Jawad Abd al-Fattah Natseh, a 31-year-old from the nearby city of Hebron, confirming he was killed by Israeli army fire. Initial reports had suggested up to four people were hurt, but medics later revised the toll to three, with the most seriously injured remaining conscious. The swift lethal response reflects standing Israeli rules of engagement in an area that has seen repeated lone-wolf attacks, a pattern that frustrates security forces despite pervasive intelligence.

Within hours, Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, issued a statement lauding what it called a ‘martyrdom operation’, naming Natseh and asserting that such actions prove Palestinians will not be cowed by ‘Israel’s crimes and settler violence’. The statement, carried by Iranian media, came as Hamas’s Gaza chief was reportedly invited to Egypt for consultations on the second phase of the fragile ceasefire that has held since January. Viewed from Tehran, the endorsement serves to project Hamas’s continued relevance and link West Bank unrest to the broader Palestinian struggle, even as the group faces pressure to negotiate a lasting truce.

The attack underscores the persistent volatility of the West Bank, where settler violence and military raids have surged since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, deepening mutual recrimination. Analysts in London note that while isolated rammings rarely shift strategic calculations, they reinforce a cycle of security clampdowns and radicalization, complicating efforts by the Palestinian Authority to assert control. With ceasefire talks in Gaza poised to resume, any escalation in West Bank violence could embolden hardliners on either side, threatening to derail diplomatic overtures. For now, the Gush Etzion junction, a symbol of Israel’s settlement enterprise, remains a fault line where daily friction can quickly turn deadly.