Two Israeli soldiers seriously injured in vehicular attack in West Bank

Two Israeli soldiers were seriously injured and another one lightly injured in an apparent vehicular attack on Thursday afternoon in the West Bank, a spokesperson for the Israeli emergency services confirmed to Xinhua.

The Magen David Adom (Israeli Red Crescent) received a report shortly after 3 p.m. local time of three people being injured after a car rammed into them in route 60 at the Sinjil junction, near the Palestinian village of Sinjil and the Jewish settlement of Shiloh in the West Bank, 20 km northeast of Ramallah.

Spokesperson Zaki Heller told Xinhua two soldiers were seriously injured, and were evacuated by helicopter to the Jerusalem Hadassah hospital's trauma unit for treatment. One soldier was lightly wounded.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Unit said in a statement that the military unit in the area fired at the vehicle in order to prevent the suspect's attack, confirming a hit.

Several Israeli media outlets reported the driver was seriously injured and then died from his wounds, but the report did not receive confirmation from Magen David Adom or the IDF.

There has been no immediate Palestinian comment on the incident.

There have been multiple vehicular attacks by Palestinian militants in Jerusalem and its surroundings as tensions between Jews and Palestinian escalated in the past year, along with stabbing attacks and the hurling of Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles.

An Israeli 27-year-old woman was moderately injured and two other Israelis suffered light injuries on Tuesday evening, after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at their car on route near the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina in east Jerusalem.

Attacks have also been carried out by Jewish extremists against Palestinians, including the killing of an 18 month-old baby and the critical injury of his parents and brother, in an apparent attack by Jewish extremist in the Palestinian village of Duma last week.

Tensions intensified amid the lack of peace negotiations, quarrel over the holy site of Temple Mount in Jerusalem and following the attacks on both sides, as well as daily clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast War and annexed east Jerusalem as part of Jerusalem's municipality in 1981.

Israel continues to build settlements in these territories, despite the international community's criticism of their illegality, adding to the already mounting tensions between the parties.

Palestinian view these territories as part of a future Palestinian state under the two-state solution. Enditem