At 7:00AM Sunday morning 11 Tammuz, a hand grenade detonated in the hand of a driver of a military patrol along the northern border to Syria at the entrance to an outpost in the Mt. Hermon area of the Golan Heights. Two soldiers were killed in the mishap R”L; lone soldier Sgt. Shlomo Rindenow z”l 20, from Kibbutz S’dei Yoav (his biological family lives in New Jersey), who served in the 401st Brigade and First-Sgt. Husam Tafash z”l, 24, from the Druse community of Beit Jon.

Three soldiers sustained various degrees of injuries and flown by helicopter to the Rambam Medical Center trauma unit. The wounded soldiers serve in the 401st Artillery Brigade. Earlier on Sunday, officials at Rambam reported one soldier in moderate-to-serious condition with shrapnel injuries over his body. The others have light injuries.

IDF Northern District Commander Major-General Aviv Kochavi has ordered an investigation to be headed by an officer of the rank of colonel. The exact circumstances leading to the accident are unclear at this time.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)