Star Metro - Israeli soldier, Palestinian attacker killed in truck ramming

Violence linked to the Israel-Palestinian conflict has surged since early this year, and Thursday's attack comes a day after a 14-year-old Palestinian stabbed a civilian at a tram station in Jerusalem.

The truck driver was a 41-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank with a work permit for Israel, Avi Biton, head of police central command, told reporters at the scene of the attack.

"The people he hit with his truck were soldiers," he said.

One soldier was killed and three others were wounded, one of them severely, the army said in a statement.

Police earlier said officers had "received a report about a hit-and-run incident near the Maccabim checkpoint" near the Israeli town of Modiin.

The driver sped off in the truck before being shot dead at another checkpoint a few kilometres (miles) away at Hashmonaim in the West Bank, they said.

Israel's defence ministry said its security personnel at the Hashmonaim checkpoint were informed by the army that the truck was coming their way.

The driver, Dawood Abed Razeq Fayez, was a resident of Deir Ammar refugee camp near Ramallah, a Palestinian security source told AFP. He declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the killing of Fayez.

In an online briefing to reporters, an Israeli defence official who did not wanted to be identified said the attack occurred on the Israeli side of the checkpoint from the West Bank.

The attacker "was on his way to the checkpoint when he saw a group of soldiers. He made a U-turn to hit them," the official said, adding the soldiers were off-duty and were headed home when they were struck.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant offered his condolences to the family of the soldier killed and praised the security forces "for their determined action" that led to the killing of the attacker.

- Rising violence -

The Magen David Adom emergency service said seven people were wounded, including the three soldiers, a 15-year-old Palestinian, and a couple whose car was hit by Fayez during his attempted escape.

Thursday's ramming came after an improvised explosive device wounded four Israeli soldiers during the night while they were securing a road for the passage of Jewish pilgrims to a holy site in West Bank city of Nablus.

One of the soldiers was moderately wounded, the others lightly hurt, the army said in a statement.

In another incident on Wednesday morning, the Israeli army said it had "neutralised" a Palestinian who injured a soldier in a vehicle attack at a military site near the city of Hebron in the West Bank.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, praised the recent attacks and said Thursday's ramming "affirms the ability of the resistance" to strike at Israeli forces.

Violence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged and has claimed the lives of at least 224 Palestinians so far this year.

At least 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have also been killed, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.

K.Morrison--SMC