Leiter says son stabilised at hospital but life still in danger

Update, 24 September, 13:08 Israel time

Ambassador Yechiel Leiter has spoken to reporters outside Shaare Zedek, saying his son's life is still in danger. The Times of Israel reported him saying he is full of hope that Neria will come through and return to the family, and drawing a contrast with the night he was told of the death of his elder son, Moshe Yedidya, who could not be brought to hospital.

In Hebrew remarks carried by Amit Segal and News.co.il, the ambassador said he had feared he would land in Israel this morning without hope, and that doctors had managed to stabilise his son's condition while the danger to his life remains. Ynet's alerts service quoted the head of the hospital's trauma unit to the same effect, describing the condition as stable with his life still at risk.

Leiter also said his daughter arrived the previous evening and gave birth to a girl, and is now lying about 40 metres from her brother in intensive care, News.co.il reported; Segal carried the same account.

Ynetnews put Neriya Leiter's age at 38 and quoted him writing in May, on being called up again, that the decision to return to reserve duty after his brother was killed had not been easy.

The reports do not give a new formal statement from the hospital's spokesperson's office.

Update, 24 September, 09:08 Israel time

Ambassador Yehiel Leiter has landed in Israel and gone to Shaare Zedek Medical Center to see his son, News.co.il reported, adding in a later item that he was at the hospital being briefed on his condition.

Ynet reported that Neria Leiter's mother, Hani, spoke of the family's shock, saying they cannot get used to it and describing how her son's wife began to cry as she came to tell her the news, repeating that she could not believe it was happening to them. Hani Leiter said that after the death of her son Moshe, Neria had wanted to gather the whole family together. Ynet's alerts service carried her remark that the family is in shock.

The heads of the Binyamin and Samaria regional councils, Israel Ganz and Yossi Dagan, visited the hospital together and used the occasion to press the government, News.co.il reported. Dagan said the government must overturn the table, while Ganz said the division of the territory into Areas A, B and C is a dangerous illusion. The same report said Neria Leiter lives at Havat Yair in Samaria, while his parents live in Eli in the Binyamin region.

None of the new reports carries a fresh medical statement from the hospital, and none says what the ambassador was told.

Update, 24 September, 01:08 Israel time

The prayer gathering called for the Western Wall is now under way. News.co.il reported that dozens of people are taking part in prayers for Neria Leiter's recovery at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem.

N12's Nitzan Shapira reported that the prayer rally is being held at the Western Wall against the background of Leiter's critical condition.

Neither report gives an organiser, names participants, or says how long the gathering is expected to continue. The reports do not add any medical information beyond what the hospital has already said, and they do not describe any similar gatherings elsewhere.

Update, 24 September, 00:08 Israel time

Shaare Zedek Medical Center has issued its first medical statement on Neria Leiter, saying he underwent a complex brain operation lasting several hours and that his life remains in danger. The statement, attributed to deputy hospital spokesperson Matan Paul and carried by News.co.il, said Leiter received life-saving treatment in the trauma unit before surgery, alongside additional treatments, and that his condition continues to be very serious.

The hospital said surgical and intensive care teams are continuing to provide life-saving care, and that social workers are accompanying the family.

Dr. Alon Schwartz, head of the hospital's trauma unit, said in a video statement that Leiter had been resuscitated and taken urgently for surgery on his head because of intracranial bleeding, describing a severe multi-system injury, N12's Yoav Even reported. Schwartz said the condition had stabilised but that it could not be said Leiter was out of danger.

The Times of Israel reported Schwartz as saying the operation continued almost until the moment he spoke, that multiple medical teams are working to improve Leiter's condition, and that the head injury was the most severe and dangerous of his wounds.

Ynet and Amit Segal carried the same hospital wording. The statements do not describe the other injuries, do not say when he was brought to the hospital, and do not give a prognosis.

Update, 23 September, 23:08 Israel time

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and met the Leiter family before flying to New York to address the UN General Assembly, The Times of Israel reported, citing the prime minister's office.

A statement from the Prime Minister's Office, carried by News.co.il and by N12's Dafna Liel, said Netanyahu had arrived at the hospital shortly before the announcement was issued, and that he asked the public to pray for the recovery of the wounded reservist, using the same Hebrew prayer form circulated earlier by the Binyamin Regional Council: Neria Dov ben Hana.

The Hebrew statements describe his condition as very seriously wounded. The Times of Israel's account described him as seriously injured. Neither the prime minister's office nor the hospital has issued a medical update of its own, and the reports do not say how long the visit lasted, whom Netanyahu met at the hospital, or whether he spoke with the ambassador, who Ynet had reported was travelling back to Israel.

The story as first reported

A reservist soldier seriously wounded in a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint on Route 443 in the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon was identified as Neria Leiter, the son of Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yehiel Leiter. Emanuel Fabian, the military correspondent of The Times of Israel, reported the identification, as did Israeli broadcasters and the spokesperson's office of the Binyamin Regional Council.

Israel Police said the assailant drove a vehicle at a patrol car of the force's Judea and Samaria District, in which a policewoman and a soldier were present. The Jerusalem Post reported that an officer and a soldier were at the scene when the patrol vehicle was struck. Joe Truzman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, citing Israel's Channel 12, wrote that Israeli forces at the scene shot and killed the attacker. Defense Minister Israel Katz also said in a statement that the fighters present had killed the assailant.

Where the attack took place, and where accounts differ

Route 443 is a highway linking the Tel Aviv coastal plain area to Jerusalem that passes through the West Bank, with checkpoints along its route. The reports do not fully agree on the exact location of the attack. Ynet placed it at the Bell checkpoint, while the Jerusalem Post and Channel 12's account referred to the Maccabim checkpoint. Israel Hayom described the location as Route 443 near Beit Horon in the Binyamin region. All the reports agree the attack took place at a checkpoint along that road.

The Binyamin Regional Council is the local authority for Israeli communities in the area north of Jerusalem. Its spokesperson's office said the wounded man is the son of Hani and Yehiel of the community of Eli, and asked the public to pray for his recovery, giving the traditional Hebrew form used for prayer, in which a person is named together with his mother: Neria Dov ben Hana.

The family

Yehiel Leiter has served as Israel's ambassador in Washington. Another of his sons, Moshe Leiter, was killed fighting Hamas in northern Gaza. Fabian reported that Moshe fell in November 2023, in the early stage of the war that followed the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7.

In a statement posted on his account on X, the ambassador thanked the Israel Defense Forces and the medical team at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he said staff were fighting for his son's life. "Neria needs a miracle," he wrote, adding that he believes in the power of prayer and that miracles occur when the people of Israel unite. He said his son had continued to serve in the reserves after the loss of his older brother, carrying out hundreds of days of reserve duty on various fronts since October 7. Ynet reported that the ambassador was travelling to Israel and would not accompany Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his visit to the United Nations.

Official reactions

Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was praying for the swift recovery of the reservist, addressed the ambassador directly and said he was strengthening him and his family. He praised the soldiers who killed the attacker and told troops and security forces that terrorism would not be allowed to raise its head.

President Isaac Herzog referred to the wounded man during remarks at the annual memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers of the Armored Corps, noting that he is the brother of Major Moshe Leiter, and sending wishes for a full recovery along with support for his wife and his parents.

Israel's police commissioner, Danny Levy, said in a statement that the wounded man had been serving in the reserves inside a police vehicle alongside officers in the Judea and Samaria sector, as part of joint work between the Israel Police and the military to strengthen security in the area. The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, wrote on X that he was praying for the entire Leiter family, noting that they had lost a son in Gaza, and said his heart was with Yehiel Leiter. The Israeli commentator Amit Segal shared a public call to gather for prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem at 23:00 that evening.

What the reports do not say

The material does not identify the attacker or state his affiliation, and does not describe how he approached the checkpoint. It does not give the condition of the policewoman or of any other person at the scene beyond the reservist, and it does not give his age or unit. The accounts differ on the checkpoint's name, and none of the reports resolves that difference. There is no updated medical statement in the material beyond the family's description of his condition as critical.