An Israel Defense Forces reservist soldier was seriously injured in a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in the central West Bank on Wednesday.

The assailant accelerated toward a police cruiser stationed at the “Bell” checkpoint — where Routes 4436 and 4437 from Beit Ur and Ramallah hit the major Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway Route 443 — running over a soldier who was operating alongside a cop, the military and police said.

The IDF said troops operating at the scene shot dead the assailant who carried out the ramming. He was identified by Israeli security officials as Mahmoud Mohammad Sliman, 29, from the nearby village of Beit Ur al-Tahta.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics treated the soldier, who was unconscious after he was hit. The soldier was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in serious condition, medical officials said.

The ramming came days after father of six Netanel Shukrun was shot and killed in a terror attack at a natural spring near the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf, also known as Halamish.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

Sixty-seven civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the Israeli security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

During the same period, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.

The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025. The total for 2024 was 682 incidents.

In a rare step, the headquarters of the military’s 98th Division will take responsibility for some sections of the West Bank amid the heightened tensions, the military said Wednesday.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ordered the 98th Division’s headquarters to command the Judea and Etzion regional brigades, tasked with the southern portion of the West Bank, following a fresh assessment, the military said.

The two regional brigades are normally under the responsibility of the Judea and Samaria Division. The move means that the headquarters of the 98th Division will take responsibility for the two brigades to alleviate pressure from the Judea and Samaria Division. The 98th Division is not deploying its organic units in the West Bank as part of the move.

“Activating the division headquarters in the area is part of strengthening command and control, in order to enhance defensive and offensive capabilities” in the West Bank, the army said, adding that it comes against the backdrop of recent terror attacks and an effort to “enhance security during this tense period.”

Two Palestinians charged for allegedly........

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