Gabriel ben Shoshan, 22, was one of five young Israelis who were ambushed in Shechem (Nablus) last night (Monday) when they entered the Palestinian Authority city without prior coordination with the IDF. His father, Shlomo, told Channel 13 that he woke up in the morning and saw that Gabriel was not at home. “I called his phone and an IDF official answered,” he went on,” I asked what happened and he said there were shots.”
Ben Shoshan relates that his son and friends took a wrong turn and ended up at Joseph’s Tomb, deep in the city. Their car apparently ran into a wall and the young men ran to hide in the bushes. As they ran, Palestinian Arabs shot at them. Two of the Jewish men were injured in the gunfire. According to Gabriel's father, they waited for about half an hour in the bushes until they were rescued. In the meantime, their car was set on fire.
“Luckily it ended this way and not worse," said ben Shoshan.
The two injured men were taken to hospital, Gabriel to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva with a gunshot wound to his hand. He is in moderate condition following surgery. The other, a 17-year-old, was seriously injured and evacuated by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan.
The three uninjured youths, aged 17-19 from Bnei Brak, were taken in for questioning by police.
According to Channel 13 News, security forces were operating in Nablus with an exchange of fire between armed men and the IDF. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that a Palestinian youth was hit in the stomach by IDF fire. According to Palestinian reports, the IDF is besieging the Al-Salihi family home in Rujib, east of Shechem (Nablus).