Staff Sergeant Yonatan Granot, an IDF fighter, died today (Friday) at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital after being fatally wounded last Tuesday as a result of gunfire from another soldier at a military base in the Jordan Valley. His funeral will be held on Sunday in the Kibbutz Einat cemetery.
The late Granot was a fighter in the “Basalt” battalion of the Nahal Brigade, 22 years old in his fall, from Kibbutz Einat. The investigating military police are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident, at the end of which the findings will be submitted to the military prosecutor’s office for examination. The IDF said that he shares the family’s grief and will continue to accompany her.
The commander of the Southern Command, General Herzli Halevi, yesterday appointed a team of experts headed by the commander of the Harel Brigade, Colonel Elad Schwartz, to investigate the circumstances of the incident. The team will investigate the factors that preceded the incident, the safety norms in the unit and how the incident was handled. In addition, the team will check the routine conduct of the entire IDF in the field of weapons.
Hadassah and the National Transplant Center announced that “the soldier’s family, in its difficult moments, has very nobly decided to donate its organs in order to save the lives of others.” It was also reported that Granot’s lungs were transplanted into the body of a 50-year-old recovering from Corona, whose lungs were damaged as a result of the disease.
Beilinson Hospital has announced that management and staff are sharing the grief of Tal Granot, Jonathan’s mother, who works at the hospital as a breast coordinator nurse at the Davidoff Center, and accompanies women with breast cancer.
On Wednesday morning, the IDF Spokesman announced that during the night an unusual incident occurred at a military base in the Jordan Valley in which an IDF fighter was seriously injured at the base, and is seeking medical treatment at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. At first it was thought that the fighter was hit by a stone, but upon arriving at the hospital it became clear that it was a bullet hit. His condition is now defined as severe but stable.
Preliminary investigation into the incident shows that the weapon from which the bullet was fired is a Roger 0.22 weapon, which is used as a weapon to disperse demonstrations and violent disturbances. The IDF emphasized that the circumstances of the incident are being investigated and the investigating military police have begun investigating the circumstances of the incident, at the end of which the findings will be forwarded to the military prosecutor’s office for examination. A notice was given to the wounded family.
One of the key issues concerns why no bullet was reported. This figure became clear only in a hospital. DIP investigators rule out the possibility that this was a security incident. Preliminary evidence indicates that no shooting at the base, or an incident of a bullet ejection was reported.
According to the investigation, in the afternoon the department completed a range on the type of weapon from which the bullet was fired, as part of preparation for the capture of a line in the Gaza Strip. After the shootings, the soldiers placed their weapons near the company guard post. A few hours later, two fighters in the platoon marched near the post, while at the same time, another commander picked up one of the weapons and aimed the weapon at the space in which they were marching. At this point, one bullet of the Roger 0.22 type was fired and hit the head of the wounded fighter and he lost consciousness. A paramedic and two other paramedics rushed to the scene and gave the wounded first aid. The fighter is then evacuated by helicopter to the hospital in critical condition.