Condition of police commando seriously wounded in West Bank raid improves
Chief Superintendent S. is communicating with family and able to breathe on his own, though still making use of a ventilator, hospital says
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
The condition of a senior police commando seriously wounded in a gunbattle with members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group over the weekend has improved, Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center said Sunday.
The hospital said Chief Superintendent S. was communicating with his family and able to breathe on his own, but still being aided by a ventilator, roughly a day and a half after he arrived.
“The medical staff is optimistic about his condition, with hopes to release him from intensive care in the coming days,” Rambam said in a statement.
Chief Superintendent S. — who can only be identified by his rank and the first letter of his name — was hurt in the predawn hours Saturday when his unit attempted to arrest a cell of Islamic Jihad members in the northern West Bank village of Arraba, near Jenin, as they were allegedly en route to commit an attack in Israel.
The gunmen opened fire at the troops, seriously wounding S. and lightly hurting four others. He underwent surgery and was hospitalized in intensive care at Rambam Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
The three suspects were killed in the gun battle and the military later arrested an alleged fourth member of the cell in a rare daylight operation in the town of Shuweika, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
Officials described the three cell members as “ticking bombs” who were ready to carry out an attack.
S. played a key role in several deadly counter-terror operations and arrests of “prominent terrorists” in the last 20 years, including helping capture two of six terror convicts who escaped from a prison in northern Israel last year.
The Times of Israel Community.