IDF soldiers mistakenly drive through Palestinian village

A week after Waze misdirection set off riots, Military Police drive through Anata, north of Jerusalem, without incident

Three IDF soldiers accidentally entered a Palestinian village north of Jerusalem Monday, but exited without incident.

The Military Police investigators, who were in civilian clothes while on assignment, accidentally entered Anata, which is under control of the Palestinian Authority and off limits for Israelis. They were on their way to an IDF base nearby and made a wrong turn.

They drove through the village and exited on the opposite side at the Shuafat checkpoint. Palestinian police let them pass to an area under Israeli control.

The incident, the second in the past week in which soldiers entered Palestinian territory, was under investigation by the IDF.

Last week two Israeli soldiers accidentally drove an army vehicle into Qalandiya refugee camp, sparking deadly clashes between Palestinians and IDF forces after a rescue operation. They were apparently guided by Waze, the popular Israeli-made GPS navigation application.

“The soldiers were apparently using Waze,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday, speaking at the New Tech exhibition for military products.

IDF spokesman Moti Almoz said earlier the army was investigating why the soldiers had entered the refugee camp, and whether they had used the navigation app.

The application has a feature that allows avoiding Palestinian-controlled territories. It is not clear if that option was being used when the noncombat soldiers were directed into the Qalandiya refugee camp directly north of Jerusalem.

As the soldiers drove through, a group of Palestinians attacked their vehicle with rocks and firebombs. The jeep caught fire, forcing the two to flee the scene.

File. Palestinians run from tear gas smoke during clashes with Israeli security forces at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank, on October 6, 2015. (AFP PHOTO/ABBAS MOMANI)

As they fled, the pair separated. One of them made phone contact almost immediately, and within 20-30 minutes the rescuers had reached him. The second one took about an hour to make contact, and then he was picked up, the IDF said.

Considerable forces scrambled to the area, sparking violent clashes between the IDF and Palestinians and resulting in 10 wounded Israeli soldiers, of whom one was injured moderately and the rest lightly.

Palestinian news agencies report 10 injured civilians and one dead. The Palestinian man killed in the skirmish was identified as 22-year-old Iyad Amr Sajdiyeh, an Al-Quds University student from Qalandiya.