Israel’s ambassador to the US says son injured in West Bank car-ramming

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter has said his son, a soldier, was injured in an alleged car-ramming incident west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces following what Israeli police described as a car-ramming attack that injured a soldier at a checkpoint at an intersection near the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Horon, Israeli police said in a brief statement.

Leiter said in a social media post that medics “are now fighting to save the life of Neria Dov ben Chana”, referring to his son.

Later, Shaare Zedek Hospital said the soldier underwent a complex surgery, and his life remains at risk.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the wounded soldier in hospital before departing for the United States to his planned address to the United Nations General Assembly, according to his office.

In a post on X, Netanyahu wrote, “I recently visited the dear family of Neria Leiter…I ask you to pray for the recovery of Neria Dov ben Chana. The entire nation is with you”.

In an earlier post Netanyahu wrote, “My wife Sara and I, together with all the people of Israel, are praying for a miracle”.

Another son of Leiter’s, 39-year-old Moshe Yedidya, was killed while deployed in Gaza in November 2023, just weeks after the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave on October 7.