Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms its citizens or soldiers, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett threatened on Sunday as a Border Police officer, shot along the Gaza border on Saturday, remained in critical condition.
“We will settle the score with those who harm our troops and the citizens of Israel,” Bennett said at the opening of the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. He added that last week he visited the IDF’s Gaza Division and left with a feeling that the military is well prepared for all possible scenarios.
The wounded Border Police officer – 21-year-old St.-Sgt. Bar-el Shmueli from Beer Yaakov in central Israel – enlisted in the IDF in 2019 and served as a sniper in the Border Police undercover unit in the south. He underwent several operations at Soroka hospital in Beersheba overnight Saturday and doctors said that he remains in critical condition and is still intubated and sedated.
“In light of the complexity of the injury, his life is still in danger,” said Dr. Amit Frenkel, a senior physician in the Soroka General Intensive Care Unit, on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, Shmueli underwent another urgent operation at Soroka.
Shmueli’s commander, Chief Superintendent K, told 103FM that he was “a valued, sociable, professional fighter” who had been mentoring new recruits.
לוחם מג"ב שנפצע אנוש בגבול עזה: סמ"ר בראל חדריה שמואלי, בן 21 מבאר יעקבhttps://t.co/3MFu49PALm@Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/4RqYPapnfN
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 21, 2021
According to K, Shmueli was shot in the head through a firing position where troops are stationed “to prevent terrorists and rioters from reaching Israeli territory.”
“Having an armed terrorist with a weapon in a crowd is not something that we routinely see in the disturbances,” K said. “It was quite unusual, the boldness and daring of the militants to get as far as the soldier with the weapon.”
When asked about the force’s readiness for a scenario in which Palestinians try to hit an IDF soldier from point-blank range, K. said that it was an event that they had prepared for.
Shmueli was shot by a Palestinian who had been able to approach the perimeter fence and fire a handgun into Shmueli’s firing position.
A video shows Palestinians along the Gaza border fence this evening firing a gun into an IDF firing position. pic.twitter.com/WTln2UznEk
— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) August 21, 2021
The attack was seen in a video shared on social media where dozens of Palestinians gathered along the fence near Shmueli’s position. One was seen trying to snatch his weapon; although the Palestinian managed to grab the barrel, Shmueli managed to pull it back.
“The soldier fought back and prevented the gun in his hands from being taken away,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
In another video of the same incident, Palestinians are then seen throwing objects and hitting the barrel of the weapon, and then one rioter is seen approaching Shmueli’s position and firing a handgun into it.The IDF opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The preliminary investigation into the shooting found that at around 4:30 p.m. hundreds of rioters ran towards the fence and the Hamas forces that were there to restrain them fled. The Palestinian who shot Shmueli hid the weapon in his pants as he approached the fence so he wouldn’t be identified.
Though the Israeli military is blaming the incident on Hamas, according to some reports Hamas members had denied he was part of the group. The military said that the entire riot, including the use of explosive devices and firearms, was planned in advance and that Hamas knew about it.
In a separate incident during the riot, another sniper stopped Palestinian rioters who had approached his firing post and tried to steal his weapons.
The military has admitted that it knew that the firing posts were a cause of concern from the 2018-2019 Great Return March riots but did not expect so many people to approach the fence in that manner.
Prior to the demonstrations, the IDF deployed reinforcements from special forces and snipers, including from Shmueli’s Border Police YAMAS mistaravim unit to the border. Additional reinforcements, including cadets from Bahad 1 have been sent to the Gaza division.
Speaking to Israeli media, the officer’s parents called the event a failure in the army.
“There was obviously a mess-up there, how did they even get to the fence? Since when is it prohibited to shoot them? They came to kill him, it’s a big mess-up for the army,” they said, adding that “a riot needs to be dispersed properly. Why does my son have to go to hospital because of a riot?”
His father said that Shmueli, who was set to be discharged in two months, was not supposed to be at the fence but was sent there to replace another soldier.
“Pray for him,” his father said. “Just let him live normally, that’s all I ask.”
יוסי שמואלי, אביו של לוחם מג"ב שנפצע בגבול בעזה לכאן חדשות: "כל עם ישראל שיתפלל לשלומו, לפחות שיחיה לא יותר מזה" @Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/wESD6T8LEi
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 22, 2021
Following the violent riots in which 41 Palestinians were injured, including two critically, the IDF carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip targeting four Hamas weapons and storage manufacturing sites.
During the retaliatory strikes Palestinians fired machine guns toward the Israeli aircraft. The gunfire hit several homes in Sderot causing damage. A 16-year-old Israeli civilian was lightly wounded while running to a bomb shelter, KAN reported.
“Hamas continues to lead the Gaza Strip into a policy of terrorism while exploiting the civilian population,” the IDF said, adding that it “will continue to respond strongly to terrorist attempts from the Gaza Strip and considers the Hamas terrorist organization to be responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip.”
Following the violence along the border, the IDF deployed reinforcements to the Gaza Division, stating that “troops are prepared for any development.”
Despite the unrest, trucks loaded with laptops, photocopiers and internet supplies entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday for the first time since Operation Guardian of the Walls in May, according to Palestinian media.
On Sunday evening, Egypt decided to completely close the Rafah Crossing with Gaza, with Saudi news outlet Al-Arabiya claiming that the move was taken as punishment for the riots along the Gaza border on Saturday.
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said that Israel’s airstrikes showed that Israel had “miscalculated the situation and ignored the message of our people and their resistance factions.”
Israel struck Gaza to “cover up its failure” and that Palestinians had “made the enemy taste some of its fire.”
Islamic Jihad leader Ahmad al-Mudallal stated on Sunday that the terrorist organization holds Israel “fully responsible” for the repercussions of any escalation.
תושבים בשדרות טוענים שנפלו בעיר קליעים מירי נ"מ של ארגוני הטרור ברצועה. כוח משטרה במקום. נער כבן 16 נפצע קלות בריצה למרחב מוגן@Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/yfbHK2UXzV
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 21, 2021
The enemy’s failure to implement the terms of the cease-fire leads to pressure in the Palestinian street, and the factions will not accept, in any case, the continuation of the siege on Gaza,” added Mudallal.
“We will not accept any inaction from the mediators and we have sent multiple messages asking them to intervene and pressure the enemy to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement.”
“The enemy’s failure to implement the terms of the cease-fire leads to pressure in the Palestinian street, and the factions will not accept, in any case, the continuation of the siege on Gaza,” added Mudallal.
“We will not accept any inaction from the mediators and we have sent multiple messages asking them to intervene and pressure the enemy to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement.”