Tulkarm raid
( Police )
Five soldiers from the undercover West Bank unit of the IDF's Border Police were injured while leaving an operational activity in the West Bank town of Tulkarm Thursday morning by a grenade thrown by one of the soldiers, but it could have ended in a much more serious disaster. The commander of the force had time to kick the grenade to get it away before it exploded, likely preventing the death of himself and his soldiers.
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The grenade thrown at the terrorists is believed to have ricocheted off of the upper part of an iron gate that separated the forces and the terrorists who shot and threw explosives at them. Despite the unusual event, the IDF praised the conduct of the undercover unit in the operation, who arrested the wanted man together with a Golani patrol force. The wanted man, who tried to run away from the forces, was shot in the leg. A gun was seized from his home.
Three of soldiers in Tulkarm were seriously injured, and two more were lightly to moderately injured. The IDF at first thought that the soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb, but discovered after medical tests that injuries were caused by shrapnel from the grenade. They were evacuated to three nearby hospitals.
In addition to the grenade explosion in Tulkarm, several dramatic events took place in the West Bank overnight in quick succession. At Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, terrorists shot at the troops, and four of them were shot and hit by IDF troops. The thousands of Jewish worshipers who came to the tomb to pray were not aware of the disturbances and the prayers continued as usual.
After the departure from Joseph's Tomb, the IDF continued to operate in the city in an operation to arrest and seize arresting and seizing illegal weapons in the Balata refugee camp. The forces arrested a wanted Palestinian and confiscated weapons and ammunition, and destroyed a terrorist headquarters with security cameras and communication equipment used by the terrorists in the camp.
The IDF clarified that the increase in the number of worshipers entering Joseph's Tomb this year stems from a directive of the political echelon, and that there have already been several times this year when worshipers' entrances have been canceled following specific warnings or due to operational considerations that came up in the military's situation assessments.
A similar situation assessment was held last night, but it was decided to once again allow worshipers to enter Joseph's Tomb. Approval also came last week for many Israelis to visit heritage sites in the West Bank, including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and sites to which Jews are not normally allowed to enter without prior coordination and approval from the IDF. About 60,000 people visited Hebron alone during the Passover holiday, and hundreds of thousands of visitors visited other sites in the West Bank.
One of the forces that participated in the operation in Tulkarm, a team of seven fighters from the Golani patrol, received a report of shooting at a vehicle near the settlement of Avnei Hefetz. The terrorists waited in a nearby village to carry out another attack, but the force reached them due to detailed information provided by the citizen who was driving the car.
The soldier's armored vehicle came under fire, and a combat support soldier who served as the driver decided on his own to run over the terrorists. The two were hit and tried to escape from the vehicle, and at the end of a short foot chase they were killed by a soldier from the force. A cache of weapons and ammunition were found in their car, and the security establishment says that this "thwarted a significant terrorist cell in Samaria."
Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai arrived at the scene of the attack in Tulkarm. "We are after a difficult incident that happened this morning. We will do everything to thwart the planned terrorist attacks, there are quite a few warnings in the pipeline," said the commissioner. "I wish recovery to all the injured, I hope they will return to us soon." He also visited the injured soldiers at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah.
S., who was slightly to moderately wounded by grenade shrapnel in Tulkarm, is supposed to get married in a week. His father told Ynet: "A great miracle happened to us. He has shrapnel in his lower body, and another shrapnel near his left eye."
"He is 21 years old and is supposed to get married in Beit Shean. They came to carry out an operational activity, an explosive device, a grenade was thrown and there was also a shooting. His two friends were very seriously injured; luckily he was slightly to moderately injured and I hope he gets out of the hospital quickly," according to the soldier's father. "The family members are now with him, everyone is praying and wishing for his speedy recovery. He has been in the unit for about a year. A great miracle happened to us."