Three Israelis were deliberately run down and injured in the occupied West Bank on Thursday by a motorist who was then shot by Israeli troops, Israeli officials said.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the incident as terrorism, suggesting in doing so that the driver – whose identity and condition were not immediately published – was Palestinian.
Two of the injured Israelis were in critical condition and the third was lightly hurt, an Israeli ambulance service said. Authorities gave no further details on the Israeli casualties.
A Palestinian medic at the scene told Reuters the motorist was seriously wounded after being shot three times and overturning his car. He was taken away by Israeli medics for treatment.
With peace talks stalled since April 2014, grassroots violence has simmered in the West Bank and adjacent East Jerusalem, among territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and where Palestinians seek statehood.
Last Friday, suspected Jewish attackers torched a Palestinian home in the West Bank, killing an 18-month-old boy and seriously injuring his parents and brother.
On Monday, two Israelis were hurt when a petrol bomb was thrown at their vehicle in East Jerusalem.
