Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinian driver after car ramming attack
Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian driver at a major checkpoint north of Jerusalem in the early hours of Thursday after he reportedly rammed his vehicle into a member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police Force.
Eyewitnesses told The New Arab’s Arabic-language service that a speeding Jeep rammed an Israeli soldier at the Qalandiya checkpoint and tried to escape in the direction of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli soldiers then closed the checkpoint and used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the Palestinians waiting there. The checkpoint is near East Jerusalem, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israeli soldiers chased the Jeep and fired on the Palestinian driver, who has been identified as 22-year-old Saleh Nazzal, from Qalqaliya in the northern West Bank.
He was seriously wounded and then detained.
The previous night, Israeli forces demolished grocery shops belonging to the Palestinian Jaber family near the Qalandiya checkpoint, destroying fruit and vegetables.
Israeli soldiers and settlers have carried out an increasing number of attacks on Palestinians in the Jerusalem area in recent weeks, with settlers vandalizing Palestinian cemeteries on Wednesday.