A tight ambush killing an Israeli officer and 16 others were wounded

The Israeli army said on Thursday that the commander of a sniper unit was killed and 16 soldiers wounded in the explosion of two explosive devices, one of which targeted a military vehicle in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli army said in a statement, ” Captain Alon Saggio, (22), commander of a sniper unit in the Kfir Brigade, was killed”.

The statement added that 16 soldiers were wounded in the same incident, one seriously, and five moderately wounded.

According to Ynet, an explosive device exploded with an armored military vehicle in the Jenin camp, and when soldiers rushed on another patrol to reach them, another device exploded, killing and wounding soldiers.

“An engineering force had previously worked to detect the roads, but did not locate the improvised explosive devices that were buried deep in the ground,” he said.

Ynet website noted that the soldier was killed when a powerful explosive device exploded deep in the ground at the entrance to the camp.

“As a result of the detonation of the IED and another IED, 16 other soldiers were injured, one seriously, 5 of them in moderate condition, and the rest lightly injured, and all the injured were evacuated to hospitals for treatment,” Ynet said.

Preliminary investigations indicate that large forces entered the operation in Jenin and its suburbs tonight, as part of an operation to arrest wanted persons and find weapons, as part of the Israeli army’s operations in refugee camps in the northern West Bank in recent months.

“An engineering force, including a D9 bulldozer, opened the traffic road for a patrol force that was moving north of the refugee camp, with claws in the ground, to detect the explosive devices,” Ynet said.

However, two of the improvised explosive devices, which were unusually buried deep underground, at least one and a half meters deep, were not detected by the heavy engineering force.

“After that, the Tiger Brigade armored vehicle passed over the first explosive device that exploded, and the soldiers who were in the medical vehicle reported that they were slightly injured, mostly from bruises and smoke,” Ynet said.

“Their comrades rushed towards them from the convoy to help treat and rescue them, arrived at the point and left on foot to join them and at this point there was another huge explosion, apparently carried out remotely by the gunmen who were preparing and observing the scene,” Ynet said.

“The other activated explosive device, according to IDF estimates, was also buried at least 1.5 meters underground, and the second explosion killed Captain Sagggio, commander of the sniper platoon, and wounded other soldiers”.

The IDF data was updated on Thursday revealing that 22 soldiers, including 16 in the West Bank, were wounded in the past 24 hours.

According to data published by the IDF on its website, the number of wounded soldiers since the beginning of the war on October 7 reached 3,944, up from 3,922 Thursday.

This brings the number of wounded soldiers in the past twenty-four hours to 22.

The IDF didn’t specify where the remaining soldiers were wounded.

According to the figures, 1,996 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the ground battles in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 27.

The IDF army said it was currently receiving treatment for 28 soldiers in serious condition, 193 in moderate condition and 32 in minor condition.

According to the data, 667 soldiers and officers have been killed since the beginning of the war on October 7, including 315 in ground battles in the Gaza Strip.