Significant operational and command failures contributed to the deaths of IDF Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, and Capt. (res.) Benayahu Mellet, 32, during a deadly confrontation between Palestinians and a group of Israeli hikers in the West Bank on July 24, an IDF investigation published Wednesday found.
Four Palestinians from the Ramadan family were also killed in the incident near the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus. The IDF identified them as assailants involved in the attack.
The investigation, published nearly two weeks after the incident, was presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir by Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth and Judea and Samaria Division commander Brig.-Gen. Kobi Heller.
It found that the soldiers and local security personnel who entered the confrontation acted courageously and prevented further casualties, but were sent into a rapidly expanding violent incident with insufficient forces, an incomplete understanding of what was happening and serious failures in command and medical evacuation.
Mellet was a member of Gilad Farm’s local emergency response squad and was serving in the reserves as a regional defense soldier. Ezra was an Artillery Corps battery commander who had volunteered to reinforce the sector amid heightened tensions.
West Bank hike not coordinated with security forces
The Israeli group had entered the area as part of an organized hike arranged by a group that runs similar excursions across the West Bank. The trip had not been coordinated or approved through the security channels required for entering the area, the investigation found.
However, initial information about the planned hike had reached the Samaria Brigade several hours before the group set out. Military officials attempted to gather additional details, but the information did not develop into a complete operational picture or the formal coordination needed to prepare forces for the excursion.
Military observers later identified several people throwing stones at the Israeli group, prompting the first forces to be sent to the scene.
The soldiers who reached the hikers remained with them as the group spread across an increasingly large area. The probe found that the force was too small in relation to the scale of the violence, the number of hikers, and the number of Palestinians involved.
When a second confrontation broke out, additional personnel arrived, including Ezra and Mellet. They immediately attempted to separate the two groups and direct the Palestinians back toward Tal.
During the confrontation, a Palestinian seized a rifle from a member of the local security team, identified in the probe as Mellet’s weapon, and opened fire.
The investigation concluded that Ezra was killed while fighting the gunman. The precise source of the fire that killed Mellet has not yet been determined.
Four Palestinians killed, two wounded, during altercation
Four Palestinian attackers were killed, and two others were wounded during the exchange, according to the IDF. Two wounded suspects identified as having participated in the attack were arrested hours later during a daytime raid on the hospital in central Nablus to which they had been evacuated.
The probe found that the rules of engagement provided to the forces were clear and allowed them to open fire as necessary to remove the threat. The failures, it concluded, were instead in the size and conduct of the force, the management of the scene and the military response surrounding it.
Other forces in the sector failed to act effectively enough to establish a complete picture of the incident, send sufficient reinforcements and dispatch medical personnel when they were needed, the investigation found.
The probe identified a particularly serious failure during the evacuation. After Ezra was removed from the scene, Mellet remained wounded on the ground for several minutes, receiving treatment from a civilian medic without any military force present.
The IDF said the failure was inconsistent with its professional and ethical obligations, including the principle that soldiers must first protect the civilians they were sent to defend.
Ezra had returned to the sector after the battalion commander raised the level of readiness the previous day following attacks in which an Israeli civilian and an IDF soldier were wounded. A security assessment at the time had determined that the situation in the area was volatile.
Since the July 24 attack, the IDF has increased troop deployments in the West Bank, established additional checkpoints and expanded counterterrorism operations around Nablus and elsewhere in the territory.
On the recommendation of the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Zamir approved Mellet’s posthumous promotion to the rank of captain. Mellet had been undergoing officer training at the time of his death.
Bluth said Ezra and Mellet had deliberately moved toward the danger to protect the hikers, charging at the gunmen and helping prevent a significantly larger loss of life.
At the same time, he said the incident exposed operational and command failures that required immediate action, including the force’s numerical disadvantage, the soldiers’ conduct during the confrontation and the medical evacuation process.
Zamir orders investigation conclusions be adopted
Bluth said violent incidents in open areas and on the outskirts of Palestinian villages were becoming increasingly common and must be treated as a likely operational scenario. Forces must study potential flashpoints, receive appropriate briefings, and be prepared for similar confrontations, he said.
Zamir adopted the conclusions of the command investigation and ordered the lessons implemented immediately, saying the incident raised questions that required examination from the tactical level through the wider military system.
He also instructed commanders to ensure that civilian entry into areas requiring security coordination was approved in accordance with Central Command and Judea and Samaria Division procedures.
Zamir praised the intelligence observers and combat collection personnel who first identified the developing threat, as well as the command operation that led to the arrest of the wounded suspects in the Nablus hospital.
“This was a serious terrorist attack in which we lost two dear fighters,” Zamir said. “Yuval and Benayahu sought contact with the enemy, demonstrated fighting ability and prevented more serious harm to the hikers.”
The IDF said it would continue accompanying the families of Ezra and Mellet.