Last night, around 16:00, at the Tapuah Junction – reservists of Battalion 8023 heard gunshots. These shots, in fact, announced an attempted combined shooting and ramming attack, which thanks to them, ended without casualties.
“We had just arrived in the sector and manned the positions,” recounts Major (Res.) N., the company commander from the 8023rd Reserve Battalion, who thwarted the attempted attack. “After a few hours, when I arrived with additional soldiers to conduct a focused briefing, we heard the gunshots.”
Two terrorists, driving a stolen vehicle, fired towards a military post at the Ariel Junction, and continued driving towards forces operating at Tapuah. The company commander’s command post, present at the scene, conducted a quick scan and identified the perpetrators’ vehicle.
“We charged towards the car while firing,” says the company commander. “In retrospect, I can say that the terrorists continued driving a few more meters, stopped, and made a U-turn with their barrels pointed at us. We returned fire, neutralized the threat, and that’s essentially how the incident was closed.” Among the possessions of one of the terrorists was a knife and a folding pocketknife.
All of this occurred within approximately 4 hours of their arrival in the sector, during one of the first shift changes of forces with Battalion 5037, who operated in the sector before them. Thanks to the rapid response, an incident that could have ended very differently was prevented. “One of the soldiers identified the movement and immediately pushed everyone down, from where we returned fire until our charge and full neutralization.”
As mentioned, this battalion is comprised entirely of reservists: “It’s true that it’s not easy to go out again and leave families, and this is already the fourth tour, but we came to maintain the sense of security in the Samaria Brigade, and we intend to do so in the best and most efficient way. We will protect all residents and travelers in the sector.”