Magen David Adom said its crews provided initial treatment to four injured people at the scene of the operation, explaining that two of them were in serious condition, while the condition of the others was described as moderate.
Hebrew media reported that Israeli forces shot and killed the perpetrator at the scene, while authorities closed Route 60 near the Gush Etzion junction amid a large security deployment.
Later, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of the young man Amjad Jawad Abdel Fattah Natsha (31 years old), who was shot by the occupation army at the “Gush Etzion” junction south of Bethlehem.
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, issued a statement praising the car-ramming attack, considering it a response to what it described as the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its settlement policies. The movement also mourned Amjad Natsheh and called for escalating resistance and intensifying operations in the West Bank.
The movement’s statement said: “We commend the heroic operation that took place near the Gush Etzion settlement south of Bethlehem, which confirms that our Palestinian people will not be intimidated by the crimes of the occupation and the brutality of the settlers, and will not stand idly by in the face of the ongoing aggression against their land, holy sites and rights.”
In a separate incident, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of the young man Imad Haroun Hamdan Ishtayeh (27 years old), who died from injuries sustained from gunfire by the occupation army near the separation wall in the town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Governorate said that Ishtayeh, who is from the town of Salem, east of Nablus, was shot in the thigh, causing a rupture of the main artery and severe bleeding, before his death was announced.
The governorate explained that the young man was injured while trying to cross the separation wall to reach his workplace inside Israel, amid continued restrictions on the entry of Palestinian workers since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023.
Since the start of the war of extermination on Gaza on October 7, 2023, the West Bank has witnessed an escalation in settler attacks, under the protection of the occupation army, especially in rural and desert areas adjacent to settlements and outposts, which repeatedly become launching points for attacks targeting Palestinians and their property.
The Israeli escalation by the occupation army and settlers resulted in the martyrdom of 1,168 Palestinians, the injury of 12,666 others, in addition to the arrest of nearly 23,000 and the displacement of 33,000, according to data published by the Palestinian Government Media Office on May 26.
