A reserve officer in the Military Rabbinate Corps who serves as a battalion rabbi was seriously injured on Monday in an explosion in the buffer zone in southern Syria

He was evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

The wounded officer is a Chabad shliach on a Jerusalem campus who has served many reserve rotations since the outbreak of the war and also fought in Gaza.

The IDF is investigating the circumstances of the incident. The initial assessment is that the explosion was caused by an old Syrian mine but military sources said that other options are being investigated as well.

According to reports, the officer was preparing the outpost for Yom Kippur and he apparently jumped from a tank that was parked near the outpost, unwittingly activating an old mine.

The officer was scheduled to finish his reserve duty on Tuesday and return home.

The public is asked to daven for a refuah sheleimah for Liraz Tzvi Halevi ben Sora Yehudis b’toch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)