Engineering Corps Officer Seriously Wounded Again in Jenin After Prior Gaza Injury

An Israel Defense Forces engineering officer was seriously wounded and a sergeant lightly wounded on Thursday during an operational activity in the Jenin refugee camp, after an explosive device detonated during a patrol ahead of plans to establish a permanent military outpost in the area.

According to the initial investigation, the troops were conducting a reconnaissance survey inside the camp when they spotted a suspicious object. Seconds later, the explosion occurred and caused the injuries. Both soldiers were evacuated to a hospital, and their families were notified. The exact trigger of the device remains unclear, and the forces still in the area are continuing to examine what happened.

One line of inquiry is that a soldier may have touched the device, causing it to explode afterward. At the same time, Israeli security forces are working to rule out the presence of additional explosive devices in the area where the blast occurred.

The badly wounded officer is already known in the IDF for a severe injury in Gaza in January 2024, when an anti-tank missile struck the D9 bulldozer he commanded. After a long rehabilitation process, he fought to return to operational service and later resumed a combat engineering role in the field, only to be wounded again now in Jenin.