Israeli sources have confirmed, Wednesday, that one soldier was killed in what was described as a ramming attack at a junction near the illegal Beit El colony, military base, and security center, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank’s central part. They added that the Palestinian driver was shot and injured.
The sources said a soldier of the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion, Staff Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal, 24, from Nof HaGalil, was killed when a Palestinian gas tanker driver accelerated toward soldiers operating at the junction.
They added that the driver crashed into a bus stop, seriously injuring Hanghal, who later succumbed to his wounds, before other soldiers and a paramilitary colonizer opened fire at the Palestinian.
Israeli sources said another young man, in his twenties, was also injured in the incident and was unconscious after suffering multiple injuries to various parts of his body.
The Palestinian driver has been identified as Hayel Daifallah, 58, from Rafat town, northwest of occupied Jerusalem; he was driving a gas truck with Palestinian license plates.
The Israeli army called firefighters to the scene to examine whether the oil tanker was wired with explosives and to isolate it because it was carrying hazardous materials, but later ruled out the possibility that the truck had any explosives.
Shortly after shooting Daifallah, the army and soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps invaded his home and took measurements of the property in preparation for demolishing and detonating it.
Also, the army installed many roadblocks in the area of the incident, blocking Palestinian traffic, and increased the deployment of its soldiers.
Earlier Wednesday morning, the Israeli army assassinated five Palestinians in an airstrike near the Al-Tawhid Mosque in Tubas, in the northeastern part of the occupied West Bank.
The five slain Palestinians have been officially identified as:
- Mohammad Sa’id Hussein Sawafta, 19.
- Majd Burhan Jamil Sawafta, 23.
- Qais Saeb Rateb Sawafta, 24.
- Yassin Ahmad Ali Sawafta, 22.
- Tolba Mahmoud Jamil Bisharat, 18.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian citizens, including a woman, and injured at least eight others in Tulkarem, in the northwestern part of the occupied West Bank
Medical sources at the Tulkarem Governmental Hospital identified the slain citizens as Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Majdouba, 25, Heba Shahada Mosleh Halawa, 21.
Israel has now killed 699 Palestinians, including 159 children, 10 women, 1 journalist, 2 medics and 14 detainees, from the West Bank, since October 7, 2023.
In the devastated, besieged and starved Gaza Strip, Israel has now killed at least 41.020 Palestinians, including more than 16.673 children and 11.269 women, and injured more than 94.925, mostly children and women, in addition to the thousands (about 10.000) of missing Palestinians, largely buried under the rubble of bombarded homes, and buildings, and in destroyed alleys, across the Gaza Strip, since October 7. 2023.
