A Border Police officer says he miraculously escaped death when a bullet aimed at his head was blocked by his own gun.
"This week, when Israel will light candles and celebrate the Hanukkah miracle, I will celebrate my own personal miracle. A bullet aimed for my head, was intercepted by my personal weapon and saved my life," he said.
The incident occurred last week when his force was deployed to the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank, during a raid to apprehend terror suspects.
"I'm aware of the danger and the risks in our operational activities," he said "but this incident demonstrated to me how close I was to death, and how I was saved by a greater force, my own personal Hanukkah miracle."
"Our job was to identify sources of fire aimed at our troops who were operating in the camp," he said.
"I heard a loud noise and immediately after it glass shattering and I immediately realized that someone was shooting at us," the unit's commander said. "At the same time, Sergeant O was knocked backward, and I was sure that's it, I lost one of my men."
"I assumed we were shot at or someone threw an explosive charge at us," the sniper said. "I started to check myself and found a small shard of glass in the cheek area. My commander asked if I was alright, and I immediately said yes, and we laid down on the ground to take cover," he said.
The commander said he tried to find where the bullet had hit but gave up quickly in order to avoid exposing his force and there had been no injuries.
Several days later the sniper realized his gun was not operating properly and was amazed to discover it had a bullet lodged in it.
"If my head would have been tilted just a bit more to any side, the bullet would have killed me," he said.