JERUSALEM (AP) — The son of Israel's ambassador to the United States was gravely injured in a ramming attack in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
Neria Leiter, a reservist in Israel's military, “needs a miracle," Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said in a social media post. Leiter's older son, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, who also served in Israel's military, was killed in Gaza just days after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the war in Gaza.
According to the military and law enforcement, a Palestinian man rammed his car into a security checkpoint Wednesday afternoon near the settlement of Beit Horon, seriously wounding the officer.
Israeli forces at the scene then “opened fire at the terrorist as he attempted to flee” and killed him. More military forces were deployed in the aftermath in the area, which is crossed by a major highway connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
A paramedic with the Magen David Adom emergency service said the injured officer was unconscious when crews arrived at the scene and was evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem.
The suspect was identified as Mahmoud Suleiman, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog both sent wishes for Leiter's recovery. A social media post by Herzog described Leiter as “fighting for his life."
Netanyahu visited Leiter's family at the hospital Wednesday night before departing for the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The Iran war, which Israel launched together with the United States on Feb. 28, is a major focus of the gathering of world leaders.
Earlier this week, an Israeli man was killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank, which has experienced a surge in deadly violence since the war in Gaza began. Recent months have seen marked increases in attacks by settlers on Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns, Israeli military operations, as well as several Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
The latest violence is happening in the middle of the Jewish High Holy Days, just after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is widely considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
In mid-April, Ambassador Leiter was a central figure in the first direct diplomatic talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon in Washington. In late June, Leiter, Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.S., and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon that was described as a first step toward peace following months of renewed conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
