israelinsider: security: IDF soldier killed in gunfire battle

IDF soldier killed in gunfire battle
By Ellis Shuman April 2, 2001


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		Force 17

Yaakov Krenchel, a 23-year-old reserve soldier from Nahariya, was killed last night in a gunfire battle near the village of Salem, east of Nablus.
(IDF Spokesman)




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	Israel Defense Forces
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Yaakov Krenchel, a 23-year-old reserve soldier from Nahariya, was killed last night in a gunfire battle between Palestinian militiamen and an IDF force near the village of Salem, east of Nablus.

According to the IDF Spokesman, Palestinians opened fired from Salem towards an IDF position. IDF soldiers returned fire and fire exchanges developed. The shooting wounded Yaakov Krenchel, who sustained a serious head injury.

An IDF force called to the scene provided preliminary medical care, but was unable to stabilize Krenchel's condition, and he died of his wounds a short time later. Krenchel's funeral was scheduled for Monday afternoon in Nahariya's military cemetery.

Israeli press sources speculated that the gunfire battle was a direct result of an IDF operation yesterday in which at least five members of Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 bodyguard unit were captured near Ramallah.

According to Ha'aretz, Palestinian security chiefs warned that Israel's capture of the Force 17 members would lead to a worsening of the conflict.

The gunfire battle near Salem was just one of many violent incidents that occurred on Sunday. In Hebron, following the funeral of Shalhevet Pass, Palestinians fired from the Abu Sneneh neighborhood at IDF positions and at the Jewish enclave.

In other incidents, Palestinian gunmen fired on IDF positions at Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim in the Nablus area. Shots were also fired at an IDF patrol on the Jenin bypass road. There was also an exchange of fire between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen near Rachel's Tomb, but no injuries were reported.

The Gush Etzion tunnel road was closed to traffic last night several times after shots were fired at the army roadblock at the entrance to the tunnels. An Israeli driver was lightly injured yesterday by stone throwers near the village of El Khader.