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Army: Israeli Killed in West Bank Car Ramming Attack | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Houses in the settlement of Ofra. Reuters


One Israeli was killed and another injured on Thursday in a car-ramming attack near the Ofra settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said, adding the alleged attacker was arrested.

The army statement did not give details about him.

Pictures published by Israeli media showed a vehicle with Palestinian license plates which had mounted the pavement, surrounded by soldiers.

Witnesses told Israeli media that as he approached a bus stop, outside Ofra, north of Ramallah, the driver accelerated and aimed the vehicle at two Israelis waiting there.

Israeli emergency services said the dead man was in his 20s and the wounded one 19.

It was the first fatal attack on Israelis since January 8, when a Palestinian killed four soldiers in a Jerusalem truck-ramming attack.

A wave of violence that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 259 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The violence has greatly subsided in recent months.

Israel has accused the Palestinian leadership of inciting the violence. The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, denies incitement and charges that in many cases, Israel has used excessive force in thwarting attackers armed with rudimentary weapons.