Eight IDF soldiers were wounded in a severe and unusual terror attack at an IDF checkpoint outside the Palestinian village of Tayasir between the northern Shomron and the Jordan Valley early Monday morning.

At about 6 a.m., the terrorist, who was wearing a khaki-green bulletproof vest and armed with an M-16 assault rifle and two magazines, reached the checkpoint area and opened fire on the soldiers from a relatively close range. Soldiers returned fire and after a gun battle that lasted for several minutes, the terrorist was eliminated. Two IDF soldiers were critically wounded and five were lightly to moderately wounded. Medical teams that arrived at the scene had to wait until the gun battle ended to tend to the wounded.

An initial investigation revealed that the terrorist, under cover of the early morning darkness, managed to reach the military outpost, which consists of a small military compound of a pillbox and several small structures. Upon arriving at the post, he opened fire at two soldiers who had just emerged from the pillbox to open the checkpoint for traffic. Other soldiers ran to assist and a gun battle that lasted several minutes took place, initially at the entrance and then within the compound itself.

Additional soldiers who arrived at the scene fired at the terrorist from outside the post and he tried to flee the area. The soldiers continued to fire at him and one soldier threw a grenade, killing him. A UAV was also deployed over the terrorist but according to reports, the Air Force chose not to eliminate him from the air, likely due to the risk of harming the soldiers.

The IDF has launched an investigation into the severe incident.

A large number of IDF forces were deployed to the scene and began carrying out searches and setting up roadblocks to rule out concerns of additional terrorists in the area.

Air Force helicopters, four intensive care units, and three ambulances arrived at the scene, and six additional ambulances were dispatched to the helicopter pads at Rambam Hospital in Haifa and Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva. A MDA helicopter was also dispatched to the area and placed on standby in a nearby area. After initial medical treatment at the scene and at the helicopter pads, the two critically wounded soldiers were evacuated to Rambam, and the others were evacuated to Beilinson.

MDA paramedic Denis Polkov said: “We arrived at the scene with MDA ambulances and intensive care units. Together with IDF medical forces, we provided medical care to six injured individuals who were evacuated by IDF helicopters, and we transported them by ambulances from the landing sites at the hospitals to the trauma rooms.”

Tayasir is part of a cluster of five villages [known in Hebrew as the “מחומש הכפרים”] in the Jenin area where the IDF recently expanded Operation Iron Wall, an extensive counterterrorism operation in the northern Shomron, in the wake of a deadly terror attack near Kedumim less than a month ago in which three Israeli civilians were murdered.

IDF forces were also bolstered in the area due to the release of terrorists to Palestinian cities and villages as part of the ceasefire/hostage deal, with IDF forces deployed to checkpoints in the area and roadblocks established in Tayasir and nearby villages, such as Tammun and Tubas.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)