Five Israel Border Police officers were wounded on Thursday morning by their own grenade. The event occurred during a gun battle in Tulkarm, while officers aimed to arrest a wanted terrorist, IDF and Border Police said.
Three of the officers are seriously wounded, and two are moderately wounded.
تغطية صحفية| متداول.. لحظة تفجير عبوة ناسفة في قوات الاحتلال في مخيم طولكرم. pic.twitter.com/lZUvbd81Ng
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) October 5, 2023
انفجارات في مخيم طولكرم تزامنا مع اقتحام متواصل لقوات الاحتلال للمخيم. pic.twitter.com/3wLcNb7fgO
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) October 5, 2023
The IDF did not have absolute certainty about whether the grenade thrown by IDF forces at Palestinian terrorists harmed the forces who threw it because it hit in a fence and boomeranged back against them or whether the Palestinian terrorists grabbed and threw the grenade back at the IDF before it exploded.
However, the IDF’s initial strong estimation was that the injury to the IDF soldiers was from the grenade boomeranging backward from the fence.
The IDF said it was still unsure about how or why the grenade boomeranged, but was probing the incident.
Further, the IDF said there were no IDF attack drones overhead during the operation, but that there were IDF surveillance drones overhead.
In addition, the IDF failed to arrest the main terror suspect who it was going after.
Despite that, the IDF did succeed at catching a different terror suspect who it fired on and neutralized when he fled.
The IDF is still probing how the main suspect escaped arrest.
Improvised explosives thrown at soldiers
The IDF, Israel Border Police, and Yamas undercover unit was operating in Tulkarm when they fell under attack. Terrorists threw improvised explosive devices and shot at the Israeli forces, who returned fire and scored several hits.
Improvised explosives were thrown at soldiers.
“Our soldiers acted this morning with courage and determination to counter terrorism in Judea and Samaria,” said Border Police head Itzhak Brik. “I wish a full recovery and a speedy recovery for the Judea and Samaria Border Police officers who were injured in the fighting. We will continue to act as joint forces with the security agencies to counter terrorism and protect the citizens of Israel. Terrorists should know that those who try to harm our forces, we’ll get to him and close the account with him.”
The Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades claimed on Thursday morning that their operatives had clashed with Israeli forces in the town.
Tulkarm has been the site of recent Israeli security operations, with the Israel Border Police’s Counterterrorism Unit arresting a terrorist suspect in a morning raid on a cellphone store.
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