Two Israeli teenagers were injured, one severely, in a car-ramming terror attack at the al-Khader Junction in the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem, on Tuesday, according to Israeli authorities.

The assailant, a Palestinian from the nearby town of Bayt Fajar, crashed his vehicle into pedestrians waiting on the side of the Route 60 highway before getting out and attempting a stabbing, the police, military, and security officials said.

He was then shot dead by a senior reservist officer, who happened to be passing by the area.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it took two victims of the attack to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital, a 15-year-old in moderate-to-serious condition and a 16-year-old in moderate condition.

Both sustained injuries to their heads and extremities, MDA said.

The incident was initially reported as a shooting due to the gunfire at the attacker.

Col. (res.) Hezi Nehama, who was not on active reserve duty, passed by the scene as the attack was carried out.

He told Hebrew media that he heard a car crash into the side of the road, and stopped his own vehicle, thinking it was an accident. But people at the junction shouted that the assailant had a knife, Nehama said.

The colonel said the terrorist ran toward him, and he initially opened fire on his legs, shouting at him to stop.

“I kept shouting ‘stop!’ and he didn’t stop. So I fired at the center of his body, and he fell,” Nehama was quoted as saying by Ynet news.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was blocking roads, encircling Palestinian towns in the area, and carrying out scans following the attack.

The junction has been the scene of previous attacks. In December 2024, a young boy was fatally shot and several people were wounded in a terror attack targeting a Jerusalem-bound bus in the area.

On Sunday, an Israeli soldier was killed after being hit by gunfire during what the military said was a car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank.

Violence has risen in the West Bank since the Gaza war started on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

Since then, 62 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank, amid a major counterterrorism offensive that has been accompanied by sharp restrictions on Palestinian movement.