The scene of a car attack that left one Israeli dead in the settlement of Ofra in the West Bank, April 6, 2017.

An Israeli soldier was killed and another was lightly wounded on Thursday in a suspected car-ramming attack at Ofra Junction in the West Bank.

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Sergeant Elichai Taharlev, 20, was killed earlier today in a car ramming attack in Ofra. IDF Spokesperson Unit

According to an initial assessment, the driver of a car with Palestinian license plates ploughed into two Israeli soldiers, killing the first young man, Golani Brigade sergeant Elichai Taharlev, 20, and injuring the second, 19. They were standing behind concrete slabs by a hitchhiking spot, located at the junction outside of the settlement of Ofra.

Taharlev, who was promoted posthumously to the rank of sergeant was buried Thursday evening at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.

The suspected assailant - identified by Palestinians as Malik Ahmed Hamed, 21, from the village of Silwad north of Ramallah - was arrested by Israeli army forces at the scene.

Israeli forces entered Hamed's home in Silwad to question his family.

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Investigators said that Hamed planned the attack. Security officials added they spoke to his family, which said he was motivated politically to carry out the attack. Hamed had spent four months in an Israeli prison ago after he was caught climbing the fence of the settlement Adam in 2015.

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A volunteer at the emergency medical service United Hatzalah who had treated the victims, Nachum Bienenfeld, said a Palestinian drove his vehicle into a group of soldiers standing near the bus stop. According to Bienenfeld, security poles that were installed after a previous car-ramming attack prevented other civilians who were standing at the bus stop from being injured.

Scene of suspected car-ramming attack in Ofra in the West Bank that left at least one Israeli dead. April 6, 2017. Emergency Medical Service (EMS)

The 19-year-old victim was evacuated to Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital, the volunteer said.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a "reaction to the crimes of the occupation" that showed the "intifada" – or uprising – was continuing.

Taharlev was doing his army service through the hesder program, which combines military service with Torah study. His father, Ohad, heads the Israeli program at Midreshet Lindenbaum, a women’s yeshiva in Jerusalem. His mother, Avigail, is a department head at the Education Ministry.

Ohad Taharlev, speaking at the entrance to his house in the settlement of Talmon shortly after his son’s death was announced, said he first heard about the attack at around 9:45 A.M., when he was almost at his office, and promptly called his son’s deputy company commander.

“I understood very quickly what had happened,” he said. “I called everyone and told them to come home.”

“I had seven children, and now I have six,” Taharlev continued. “It’s a very difficult feeling.”

He described his son as “a boy who was full of life. He never got angry ... It’s a great loss.”

The Tekoa yeshiva, where Elchai Taharlev studied as part of his hesder program, said he “embodied the combination of love of Torah and dedication to the Jewish people.”

The Talmon local council said he was “talented, modest and very, very loved,” adding, “Grief rends the hearts of his neighbors, friends, members of his youth group and all the many residents of the community who knew Elchai and admired him.”

President Reuven Rivlin also eulogized him. “Today we lost a beloved son, Elchai Taharlev, in Israel’s ongoing battle to ensure its own security and that of its citizens,” he said. “I want to send my deepest condolences to the Taharlev family and the entire community of Talmon and to wish the wounded soldier a speedy recovery.”

“We will not let terror weaken us,” Rivlin added. “Israeli society is strong, and we must stand firm, together, to guard our country and our land.”

On Saturday, three people were hurt in a stabbing attack in the Old City in Jerusalem. A police officer was moderately wounded, two civilians were lightly hurt and the suspected assailant, a 17-year-old Palestinian from Nablus, was shot dead.

A Palestinian from East Jerusalem was shot and killed last Wednesday by police officers after pulling a pair of scissors and trying to stab a group of officers by the Old City's Damascus Gate.

This is a developing story.</s>(JTA) – An Israeli soldier was killed and a second injured in a suspected car-ramming attack in the central West Bank.

The attack on Wednesday morning took place at a bus stop near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, located northeast of Ramallah.

The Palestinian driver of the vehicle, a silver Audi, was apprehended by other soldiers on the scene and detained.

He was identified by the Palestinian Maan news agency as Malek Ahmad Moussa Hamed, 23, from the village of Silwad near Ramallah.

The killed soldier was named as Sgt. Elhai Teharlev, 20, from the West Bank settlement of Talmon, who served in the Golani Brigade.

Hamas praised the attack, calling it “a response to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people and a direct continuation of its heroism in the al-Quds Intifada,” the wave of violence, mostly stabbing and car ramming attacks that started in October 2015.</s>JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli soldier was killed and a second injured in a suspected car-ramming attack in the central West Bank.

Sgt. Elhai Teharlev, 20, from the West Bank settlement of Talmon, was killed in the attack Wednesday morning at a bus stop near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, located northeast of Ramallah. He served in the elite Golani Brigade.

The Palestinian driver of the vehicle, a silver Audi, was apprehended by other soldiers on the scene and detained. He was identified by the Palestinian Maan news agency as Malek Ahmad Moussa Hamed, 23, from the village of Silwad near Ramallah.

“We have lost today a dear son, Elhai Teharlev, in the State of Israel’s ongoing struggle to ensure its security, and safeguard its citizens,” Rivlin said in a statement. “We will never allow terror to weaken us. Israeli society is strong, and we must stand firm in defense of our state and our land.”

Hamas praised the attack, calling it “a response to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people and a direct continuation of its heroism in the al-Quds Intifada,” the wave of violence, mostly stabbing and car-ramming attacks, that started in October 2015.</s>An Israeli soldier died and another was lightly wounded in an apparent car-ramming attack east of Ramallah in the central West Bank on Thursday morning.

Haaretz Hebrew newspaper said that a car-ramming attack was carried out near Ofra junction east of Ramallah.

Sources said that the driver of the car was injured while others proclaimed his death.</s>One Israeli was killed and another wounded on Thursday in a car-ramming attack near the Ofra settlement in the occupied West Bank, the army said.

The attacker was arrested, an army statement said, without giving further details.</s>The Israeli military said a car driven by a Palestinian deliberately rammed two Israeli soldiers, killing one and injuring the other, in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

The death brings to 39 the number of Israelis killed in a wave of Palestinian street attacks that began in October 2015, while at least 242 Palestinians have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian Territories over the past 18 months.

The driver was detained after the incident near the Jewish settlement of Ofra, the army said in a statement. Witnesses told Israeli media that as he approached a bus stop, he accelerated and directed the vehicle at two soldiers waiting there.

Israeli government development of settlements in the West Bank has been a focus of friction with Palestinians and contributed to the breakdown of peace talks. Israel disputes the view that the settlements are illegal, and argues it has biblical and historical ties to the land.

Israel says at least 162 of the Palestinians killed had launched stabbing, shooting or ramming attacks. Others died during clashes and protests.

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.

Photos from the scene of Thursday’s incident showed the driver, bound, blindfolded and guarded by a soldier, seated next to his damaged car, in the undergrowth behind the bus stop. The vehicle had Palestinian licence plates.

Five days ago, Israeli paramilitary police officers shot dead a Palestinian after he stabbed three Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City.</s>Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a car ramming attack outside the Israeli settlement of Ofra, north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, on April 6, 2017. An alleged car-ramming attack occured at the Ofra junction near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ofra in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah on Thursday morning, according to the Israeli army, killing an Israeli and lightly injuring another.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Al Bawaba.</s>One Israeli has been killed and another wounded in a car-ramming attack near the Ofra settlement in the occupied West Bank, the army said.

An army statement said the alleged attacker had been arrested, without giving details about him.

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

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

The incident took place next to a bus stop outside Ofra, north of Ramallah.

It was the first fatal attack on Israelis since 8 January, 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 Agence France-Presse 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 airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

The violence has subsided in recent months.</s>A Palestinian man carried out a car-ramming next to a bus stop near a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, killing one Israeli and wounding another, officials said.

The incident near the Israeli settlement of Ofra came ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday beginning on Monday, which has raised fears of an upsurge in violence.

The alleged attacker was arrested, an Israeli army statement said, without giving details about him.

He was identified as Malek Hamed, 22, from the nearby West Bank town of Silwad, by official Palestinian news agency WAFA, which also said he had been shot and wounded.

Following the incident, a vehicle with Palestinian licence plates, which had mounted the pavement, was seen surrounded by soldiers.

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

The incident took place next to a bus stop outside Ofra, north of Ramallah.

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.

There are fears the week-long Passover holiday will lead to a fresh outbreak of violence, particularly if there is an increase in Jewish visitors to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

The site is holy to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

It is located in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed, and is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tensions regularly flare over the site, with Palestinians fearing Israel will seek to assert further control over it.

Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he has no intention of changing that status quo, though hardline members of his coalition push for Jewish prayer rights there.</s>A Palestinian man was shot and detained on Thursday after carrying out an alleged car-ramming attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding another.

The driver, identified as 23-year-old Ahmad Moussa Hamed, ploughed into two Israeli soldiers standing behind concrete barriers near a bus stop outside the Ofra settlement near Ramallah.

Elichai Taherlev, 20, of the Golani Brigade was killed in the incident, and another 19-year-old soldier was lightly injured.

Shortly after the attack, Israeli forces raided Hamad’s home in the village of Silwad near Ramallah. Israeli authorities also froze work permits belonging to Hamad’s family members that allowed allowed them to work in Israel, Israeli media reported.

The Hamas movement released statements praising the apparent attack. Hamas spokesperson Abed al-Latif al-Qanou said it was a response to the “continuous Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinians”.

Speaking to Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency, Hazem Qassem, another Hamas spokesman, called it “evidence that the Intifada of Jerusalem will go on, and it would only end with liberty and freedom”.

Qassem’s use of to the term “Intifada of Jerusalem” refers to the wave of violence that has spread throughout the occupied territories and Israel since October 2015, which has claimed the lives of 259 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to a count by AFP news agency.

Qassem added the “attack proved that the Israeli army and settlers are not secure as long as [Palestinian] rights are denied, our land occupied and our people and holy sites assaulted and violated”.

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

On Saturday, Israeli police shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian man who stabbed two civilians and a border officer in Jerusalem.

The slain Palestinian was identified by the Palestinian Ministry of Health as Amad Zahir Fathi Ghazal, 17, from Nablus.

Witnesses told local media at the time they found more than 25 bullet holes in Ghazal’s apartment, and accused Israeli forces of “executing” him when they could have easily detained him.
An Israeli soldier is killed during a car ramming attack near Ofra, in the West Bank. Another Israeli soldier was injured. A Palestinian suspected of committing the attack is taken into custody.