The IDF soldier hit by accidental gunfire on Tuesday night on his army base in the Jordan Valley died on Friday morning at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. The soldier was identified as Staff Sgt. Yonatan Granot, z’l, 22, of Kibbutz Einat in central Israel.

A preliminary investigation into the incident showed that Granot was critically injured when a commander picked up a rifle that had not been properly unloaded after target practice and randomly pointed it at an area on the base. The rifle accidentally discharged and hit Granot on the head.

The incident is still under investigation by the Military Police.

Granot’s organs were donated to five recipients following his death, including his lungs, which were transplanted to a man recovering from the coronavirus at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, the first coronavirus patient in Israel to undergo a lung transplant.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)