The son of Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, has been critically injured in a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities said.
Neria Leiter, an Israeli army reservist, was serving alongside police at Maccabim checkpoint when a vehicle accelerated towards a joint police-military patrol and struck him, according to the Israeli police and military.
“An [Israeli military] reserve soldier was severely injured as a result of the ramming attack at a checkpoint in the Binyamin Regional Brigade,” the military said in a statement posted on X late Wednesday.
“The soldier was evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital, and his family has been notified.”
Security forces at the scene opened fire and killed the driver, who was identified by Israeli security officials as Mahmoud Mohammad Sliman, 29, from the nearby village of Beit Ur Al Tahta.
Mr Leiter was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem in serious condition. The hospital said he underwent emergency brain surgery lasting several hours and that his life remained in danger.
The Israeli military said it subsequently deployed additional forces to the West Bank, including the headquarters of its 98th Division, which was assigned command of forces in the area.
Ambassador Leiter, who was in the US when he received news of the attack, returned to Israel to be with his son.
“Neria needs a miracle,” he said in a statement posted on X, thanking the military, medical staff and those praying for his recovery.
Neria’s older brother, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed in Gaza in November 2023. His father said Neria had since served hundreds of days in the reserves on multiple fronts.
