Female Israeli soldier injured in car-ramming attack in southern West Bank

By Zein Khalil and Rania Abu Shamala

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) - A female Israeli soldier was injured late Monday in a car-ramming attack near the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army is continuing a large-scale search for the perpetrator.

The Haaretz daily reported that the soldier sustained minor injuries.

Israeli security forces are pursuing a vehicle described as Palestinian after it headed toward the city of Hebron, it added.

Neither Palestinian eyewitness accounts were immediately available nor were statements issued by Palestinian officials or media outlets.

The incident comes amid an unprecedented surge in Israeli army and illegal settler attacks against Palestinians, their property and their livelihoods throughout the West Bank.

More than 1,085 Palestinians have since been killed and 10,700 others injured in attacks by the army and illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied territory. Over 20,500 people have also been arrested.

In a landmark opinion in July last year, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.