IDF probe: Operational errors led to tragic killing of two Israelis

The killing of two Israeli security guards near a West Bank settlement close to Hebron on Thursday afternoon was the result of a mistake by IDF troops who were scouting for terrorists, the IDF senior commander in the area said.

GOC Central Command, Major General Moshe Kaplinsky said the incident was "an operational failure by the troops observing the area" from a nearby hill.

The soldiers observing the area erroneously believed that the two were terrorists who were in fact located on a different hilltop, Kaplinsky said.

The two victims have been named as Yoav Doron, aged 22, from Jerusalem, and Yehuda Ben-Yosef, 22, from Ma'aleh Adumim. They were both laid to rest on Thursday.

The IDF said it had received warnings of a possible terror attack in the area and that the two Israelis had not heeded soldiers' calls to stop.

The IDF Spokesman expressed regret and announced an investigation into the incident, which took place at 1 P.M. on a hilltop road east of the Pnei Hever settlement, close to the Zif Highway junction.

"This was a tragic mistake, as in other incidents in which innocent people are killed on either side," said Major Sharon Feingold, from the IDF Spokesman's office.

"The unit ordered the car to stop, and after identifying the occupant as armed, shot and killed him," an IDF statement said. "After hearing the gunfire, a second armed man ran off [from the hill]. He was shot dead by a helicopter gunship."

The second man had called security forces in the area and told them that he was under fire from terrorists, unaware that IDF soldiers were the source of the fire, Channel Two reported. The two had recently completed their mandatory service in the army in a unit that served in the area, the report added.

The army said its troops had been on alert for a "terrorist attack" by Palestinian gunmen, who have carried out a spate of shootings in the area over recent days, including the killing of two Israelis and a soldier.

At the time of the shooting, one of the victims - who were in charge of guarding an antenna used for research and development on a hilltop in the area - had pulled over to the side of the road to make some coffee, and the other one began driving away.

Soldiers had been searching for Palestinians whom IDF intelligence had reported were planning to attack an Israeli vehicle on the road leading to Pnei Hever. The elite lookout force noticed the armed security guard in the car and called for help from the ground.

The soldiers said they called on the guard to stop. According to several reports, he stopped and got out of the car, after which he was shot dead. According to other reports, he was shot as soon as he began driving.

All reports said, however, that the second security guard heard the shots and began running to his aid when an Air Force helicopter fired a rocket and killed him.

It was intially believed that the shooting was an ambush attack in which Palestinians disguised as soldiers had opened fire on an Israeli car.

The army has beefed up forces and has been on special alert in and around Hebron in recent days, after a series of Palestinian attacks on settlers and soldiers in the city.

"We've said for a long time that the firing orders are too lax," said Lior Yavne, a spokesman for rights group B'Tselem, which monitors human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The soldiers see suspicious figures, fire first and ask questions later," he said.

Yavne said dozens of unarmed Palestinians have been killed by IDF fire in the past 29 months of fighting, including those driving or walking near military checkpoints.

	Yoav Doron, left, and Yehuda Ben-Yosef
	Photo by: Reproduction