Israeli forces found the missing soldier safe in a different location a few hours later. Iyad Omar Sajadiyya, a 22-year-old student at al-Quds University, was shot in the head. “They’re not familiar with the area, so we have to check who sent them on this mission, what they knew and what they didn’t know”, said Ya’alon.
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It was later revealed that the two soldiers had mistakenly entered the Palestinian town thanks to directions provided by the navigation app Waze.
Jalud village council leader Abdullah Hamed welcomed the army’s decision to surrender control but said villagers were still waiting for a second decision allowing them to actually return to their land.
Waze, a navigation tool developed in Israel, is popular among Israelis. “The driver deviated from the suggested route and as a result, entered the prohibited area”, Waze said.
Israeli security forces have killed at least 170 Palestinians.
During the serach operation for the two soldiers, a firefight broke out with the armed Palestinians in the camp.
It remained unclear how the soldiers could have stumbled into the middle of the camp, which is sandwiched between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Technological systems, he noted, “do not take into account all of the considerations”.
The survey also asked respondents whether they favour or oppose “the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip”. One reporter asked Maj. Several Israeli soldiers were hurt in the fight as well, according to The Washington Post. “Don’t they learn to navigate and read maps?”
It is not clear whether the app actually led them into the camp, and the military says it is investigating whether that is the case.
“In general, in Judea and Samaria”, he said, using the biblical term for the West Bank, “the situation calls for greater caution”. “I am concerned about the safety of law enforcement officers and the community, and the potential for your Waze product to be misused”, the police chief wrote, though civil rights groups defended the app.
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Waze noted that there are prominent signs on the road in question prohibiting access to Palestinian-controlled territories by Israelis and said, “Unfortunately, there is no ability to prevent [such incidents] altogether as ultimately some prudence is in the driver’s hands”.
