IDF soldier killed by rock thrown at troops during West Bank arrest raid

An Israeli soldier was killed when he was struck in the head by a large rock during an arrest raid in the northern West Bank in the predawn hours of the morning, the Israel Defense Forces says.

The soldier — named as First Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal, 21 — was a member of the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion, which was carrying out a series of four arrests in the West Bank village of Yabed, west of Jenin, overnight, IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman tells reporters.

As the troops were making their way out of the village on foot, following the arrests, a small group of roughly 10 Palestinian youths began throwing rocks at them.

The rock that killed the soldier appeared to have been thrown from the roof of one of the homes on the outskirts of the village.

“The rock hit the soldier directly in the head. The soldier was wearing a helmet. But it hit him at an angle,” Zilberman says.

The soldier received treatment from medics at the scene before being taken to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Ben-Yigal is the first IDF soldier to be killed in action in 2020, Zilberman adds.

— Judah Ari Gross