Troops rescued after sat nav ‘led them’ into riot

A NAVIGATION mistake led to intense rioting in the Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, on Monday night, as the IDF feared that at least one of its soldiers may have been kidnapped by Palestinians.

The incident took place when two soldiers from the IDF’s elite K9 unit were driving back to base near Ramallah in the West Bank.

Against orders which require them to be acquainted with the roads they take and to avoid Palestinian areas, they were using the navigation app Waze, which they claim directed them into Qalandia.

Inside the camp — the scene of many violent confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces — their army vehicle was attacked with firebombs and set alight.

An army source said: “The soldiers were surrounded by a very big riot, with many rocks thrown at their vehicle. They continued driving, and then Molotov cocktails were thrown at them, setting the vehicle on fire.”

The two soldiers ran from the vehicle and lost contact with each other. Special forces were sent into Qalandia to extricate them, and when one could not be located, the military initiated the “Hannibal Directive” which is used in situations when there is concern that a soldier has been abducted. The directive allows for live fire to be used, even if it may endanger the abducted soldier himself.

The soldier was found after an hour, hiding nearby, and the forces left Qalandia. During the confrontation, 10 Israeli soldiers were injured. One Palestinian was killed and 12 injured. The IDF is holding an inquiry to decide whether the soldiers involved, together with their commanders, should be disciplined.

Waze, the Israeli technology company which was sold in 2013 to Google for $1.3 billion, said that the two soldiers had disabled the default mode in their navigation app which would have enabled them to avoid dangerous areas. Waze added that the pair had also deviated from the route that the app had recommended.