Captain Alon Sacgiu was killed Thursday overnight during a counter-terror operation in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed. The officer served as the Kfir Brigade's Haruv Battalion sniper unit commander and was killed as a result of a powerful explosive that was buried deep below ground at the camp’s entrance and set off.
As a result of the explosive and another one set off nearby, 16 IDF soldiers were injured, with 10 receiving minor injuries and the rest in moderate condition mainly due to smoke inhalation, blast damage, and shrapnel. All the injured were evacuated to Israeli hospitals.
An initial investigation into the incident suggests forces entered Jenin and its surroundings last night as part of an operation to arrest wanted individuals and locate weapons, as part of the IDF's operations in the refugee camps and West Bank in recent months.
A double combat engineering force, which included a bulldozer and an armored D9 bulldozer, cleared the route for one of the Haruv Battalion’s forces moving from the north of the refugee camp, with their scoops on the ground to uncover hidden explosives. Twp of the explosives, however, buried at a significant depth of at least one and a half meters, weren’t detected and or neutralized by the force.
As a result, a Namer APC passed over the first explosive, which detonated, with the soldiers in the vehicle reporting injuries following the incident. Their fellow troops hurried toward them with a vehicle to help treat and evacuate them, at which stage another explosion took place, likely remotely triggered by terrorists who had eyes on the scene ahead of time.
According to IDF estimates, the second explosive was also buried at least one and a half meters deep. The second explosion resulted in Captain Sacgiu’s death and moderate injuries to other soldiers.
IDF forces quickly treated and evacuated all the injured while continuing the operation with the remaining hundreds of soldiers participating. Findings at the scene indicated different methods for activating the explosives were used, both wired and wireless.
The IDF is investigating the circumstances of the incident and examining how the rescue force dismounted their vehicle, given there’s an established dismounting procedure in such situations, which includes finding a safe area to do so in order to prevent risks from hidden mines and explosives.