Officer suspended after hurling grenade at Palestinian house
Soldiers hurl grenade into house in village near Ramallah; mother and three children hurt after inhaling gas. IDF suspends force's commander, apologizes to family
An IDF officer was suspended from operational duty Thursday after he threw a tear gas grenade into the house of a Palestinian family in a village near Ramallah.
A woman and her three children were lightly hurt after inhaling gas, and were evacuated to a hospital in Israel for treatment.
The soldier will remain suspended until an investigation into the affair is completed.
The IDF's Spokesperson Unit said: "In the course of an operational activity of an IDF force in the village, the force hurled a grenade at a house. The house filled with gas, and its inhabitants needed medical attention and were later taken to a hospital in Israel
"The incident in questions is very severe, and the IDF is investigating it. the officer involved was suspended from duty until the end of the probe."
The Spokesperson Unit added that, "Following the incident, the Coordination and Liaison Unit contacted the family and was involved in their evacuation to the hospital, the Coordination and Liaison Unit is in touch with the family and will address their needs.
"An apology on behalf of the Brigade's commander has been relayed to the family."
'Abuse must stop'
A member of the Janiyeh village council, Ayed Mazlum, told Ynet that at about 2:30 am Thursday, the family called him to say that a grenade was thrown into the house by soldiers. Mazlum said that he then phoned the IDF's District Coordination and Liaison Unit."An Israeli officer who identified as Atef asked me if there were injuries. I told him that all the family members have been hurt. Within a short while, two ambulances arrived at the house and evacuated the injured to a hospital in Israel," he described.
According to Mazlum, the Coordination and Liaison Unit sent representatives to the village to investigate the incident, and following the probe they informed him that the family's claim was found to be correct and that the force's commander was arrested.
"The Coordination and Liaison Unit's commander Mansur Khatib… apologized to me and expressed the IDF's apology to the family and the entire village. I hope that the family recovers from this soon," Mazlum added.
The village council member said that a similar incident happened in Janiyeh about a month ago. "I hope that this phenomenon of soldiers abusing innocent residents in the village stops," he concluded.
Ali Waked and Meital Yasur-Beit Or contributed to the report
