Three people were wounded Sunday in a ramming attack at Gush Junction in the West Bank's Gush Etzion after a vehicle struck pedestrians near the junction in the direction of Kiryat Arba.
A 17-year-old girl was evacuated from the scene in serious condition, and a 15-year-old girl was moderately wounded. A third person was treated for shock.
The terrorist, a resident of Hebron, was neutralized by a soldier from the Kfir Brigade’s 90th Battalion, officials said.
Following the attack, Highway 60 south of Gush Junction was closed to traffic in both directions, causing traffic jams in the area.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said medics and paramedics treated the wounded at the scene before evacuation.
Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, arrived at the scene and called it “a difficult attack.”
“A terrorist tried to run over a group of boys and girls,” Rosenthal said. “We have several wounded. The terrorist was eliminated very quickly by army forces.
“Our hold here at Gush Etzion Junction began 100 years ago. We have known many challenges, and today is also a difficult day. With God’s help, we will continue our hold here on the good mountain of Gush Etzion.”
In November, Gush Junction was the scene of a combined ramming and stabbing attack in which Aharon Cohen, 71, a longtime resident of Kiryat Arba, grandfather and father of six, was killed. The attack was carried out by two Palestinian terrorists from Hebron and the nearby town of Beit Ummar, who arrived armed with knives. They first tried to ram people at a hitchhiking post, then got out of the vehicle and began stabbing people.