The checkpoint attack

On Wednesday afternoon, 23 September 2026, a vehicle struck Israeli security forces stationed at a security checkpoint near the settlement of Beit Horon and the Palestinian village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, west of Ramallah. The driver rammed into personnel carrying out vehicle inspections along the highway connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Israeli forces at the scene fired upon the driver as he exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot, killing him. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the driver as 29-year-old Mahmoud Mohammad Mahmoud Suleiman, a resident of Beit Ur al-Tahta. Following the incident, the Israeli military deployed reinforcements throughout the surrounding corridor to secure the route.

Medical condition and family response

The injured soldier was identified as Neria Leiter, an active military reservist and the son of Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter. Leiter sustained severe head trauma and was transported to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where surgical teams performed an emergency brain operation lasting several hours. Ambassador Leiter left the United States immediately, cancelling his planned attendance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to return to Jerusalem. Speaking to reporters outside the hospital on Thursday morning, the ambassador stated that his son remained in critical condition following a difficult night.

“The doctors managed to stabilize his condition, but his life is still in danger.”

The ambassador noted that Neria had continued to serve hundreds of days in the military reserves across multiple fronts after his older brother, Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed during combat operations in Gaza in November 2023.

Political reactions and diplomatic tensions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Leiter family at Shaare Zedek Medical Center on Wednesday evening before departing for New York to address the UN General Assembly. Israeli President Isaac Herzog issued a public statement describing the reservist as fighting for his life, while Hamas issued a statement praising the car ramming as a heroic operation. On Thursday, Ambassador Leiter publicly criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for remarks delivered Tuesday at the United Nations, where Macron said that Hamas had never operated in the West Bank. The diplomatic friction unfolded as world leaders convened in New York, where regional security conflicts and the military campaign initiated by Israel and the United States on 28 February 2026 remained key agenda items.

Context of rising West Bank violence

The ramming occurred during the Jewish High Holy Days, following Yom Kippur, during an escalation of conflict across the occupied West Bank since October 2023. Earlier in the week, on Sunday, French-Israeli settler Netanel Choukroun was killed in a shooting in the central West Bank. According to Palestinian Health Ministry figures compiled by AFP, Israeli forces and settlers have killed approximately 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank since late 2023 during military incursions, armed clashes, and attacks. The territory has recorded multiple Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli soldiers and civilians, alongside an increase in settler violence and evictions across Palestinian towns.