Maj. Yuval Ezra, a 27-year-old IDF artillery officer, was killed Friday during operations near the West Bank village of Tell, the military announced.
Ezra, from the central city of Herzliya, commanded a battery in the Artillery Corps’ 411th Battalion, part of the 282nd Fire Brigade.
The military did not immediately provide further details about the circumstances of his death. Ezra was the second Israeli confirmed killed in the violence near Tell, after Havat Gilad alert squad member Benayahu Mellet.
The incident began after a group of Israeli hikers entered the area without coordinating the trip with the military, according to security officials. Such visits require advance approval because parts of the route passed through Areas A and B of the West Bank, which are under varying degrees of Palestinian civil and security control.
A violent confrontation broke out between the hikers and dozens of Palestinians early Friday. Havat Gilad security personnel and IDF troops were called to the scene, where the confrontation escalated and gunfire erupted.
A Palestinian snatches an Israeli’s rifle and opens fire during a violent confrontation near Havat Gilad in the northern West Bank
Video from the scene appeared to show an Israeli in civilian clothes kicking a Palestinian who approached him in a threatening manner. The Palestinian then snatched the Israeli’s rifle and opened fire before troops and other armed Israelis returned fire.
The military said the gunman was killed immediately after the shooting and that troops recovered the stolen rifle. Israeli security officials said a platoon commander killed two Palestinian terrorists, including the gunman who shot Mellet.
Mellet, 32, was a member of Havat Gilad’s alert squad and oversaw agricultural activity at the settlement outpost. A father of two, he had rushed to assist the hikers after hearing that they had come under attack, according to Havat Gilad officials.
Benayahu Mellet
He is survived by his wife, Esther, and their daughters, Tair Eretz and Adama Ivriya, ages 12 and 13.
“With great pain and sorrow, we announce the murder of Benayahu Mellet in a terror attack by vile terrorists while rescuing a group of hikers in the area,” Havat Gilad said in a statement. “Our hearts are with Esther, Tair Eretz and Adama Ivriya, and the entire Mellet family.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and four others were wounded, three critically. It was not immediately clear whether the ministry’s toll included the terrorist whom the military said was killed after seizing the rifle.
The military has opened an investigation into the confrontation, including gunfire by settlers before troops arrived. Security officials described the scene encountered by military commanders as chaotic and said everyone who discharged a weapon was being examined.