B’chasdei Hashem this story does not have a tragic ending. Two youths, residents of Suissa in the Southern Hebron Hills went for a walk on Shabbos. The youths, about 15-years-old, decided to return to the community apart from one another, approaching from different directions.

One of them walked though and orchard and while placing his hand in a pocket, the sentry, an IDF soldier spotted him, believing the placement of his hand in his pocket may be to pull out a weapon. The soldier shouted at the ‘suspicious person’ to halt a number of times and when he did not heed the warnings, the soldier fired into the air. The soldier explained he saw the person running, not walking, towards him. The youth, who heard the shot but not the shouts stopped in his tracks and raised his hands in the air.

It soon became clear the youth was a resident, not a terrorist, but only after the soldier, who followed procedure, activated an area alert of a possible attempted terror attack.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)