The son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, was critically injured on Wednesday after a vehicle rammed into a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.
Neria Leiter, a reserve soldier stationed at a checkpoint near the settlement of Beit Horon, was taken to a hospital in Jerusalem following the attack, according to emergency response officials.
Leiter appealed for prayers for his son after the incident, saying, “Neria needs a miracle,” Leiter said in a statement on social media.
“I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen.”
The driver, identified as 29-year-old Mahmoud Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, was shot dead at the scene, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Hamas praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
In a statement, the group described the incident as a “natural response” to Israeli actions in the West Bank and Jerusalem and called for increased resistance against Israel.
Neria Leiter is the second son of the ambassador to suffer a major loss in the conflict.
His elder brother, 39-year-old Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed while fighting in Gaza in November 2023, weeks after the war began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The latest incident came days after another deadly attack in the West Bank, where Netanel Shukrun, a father of six from the settlement of Alei Zahav, was shot dead while bathing at a natural spring on Sunday as part of Yom Kippur traditions.
Israeli authorities said the suspected gunman was arrested at a hospital near Ramallah. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently called for the death penalty under a new law covering terrorism and nationalistic murders.
Since October 2023, Israel has conducted extensive military operations in the West Bank, which officials say are aimed at tackling militant activity.
The operations have resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians and repeated raids on Palestinian communities.
