An Israeli military bus that was struck by an anti-tank missile near the Gaza border on Monday had bypassed a roadblock set up by the Military Police and entered a restricted area before it was hit, Israel Hayom has learned.
Video footage of the incident released by Hamas shows a Kornet laser-guided missile hitting the bus directly. A group of around 30 soldiers had disembarked from the bus shortly before the attack and were uninjured. One soldier, age 19, who had remained on the bus sustained serious injuries.
It appears that Hamas had waited for the soldiers to get off the bus before firing on it, in an effort to stage a show of force without risking a major retaliation from Israel.
The use of a Kornet missile represents an upgrade from the largely inaccurate projectiles typically fired from the Gaza Strip. The strike incinerated the bus and sent a large plume of smoke over the area.
According to several reports, the bus entered a restricted military zone in Hamas' line of fire. It appears that the soldiers' commander forced the military police stationed there to lift their roadblock by saying the bus was carrying soldiers from an elite unit that had been called to the area.
In fact, the soldiers were taking part in an operational driving course at a training base in southern Israel.
GOC Army Headquarters Maj. Gen. Yaakov Barak ordered an investigation into the incident. According to initial findings, the soldiers from the driving course should never have been in the area to begin with, and once there they violated military safety directives.
The father of the wounded soldier expressed outrage over the incident.
"I don't understand the logic. Putting soldiers there when they're exposed to fire from the Gaza Strip, just like sitting ducks?" he said.
"This situation is extremely painful. My son paid a heavy price, and I'm asking that people pray for him. Beyond that, I want the incident to be investigated and the right lessons to be learned because what happened there was like a war.
"I watched the video released by Hamas, and, honestly, it was really hard for me to look at. How can something like this happen?"
The soldier's mother said, "We're waiting for him to open his eyes. We spoke to the doctors and they told us he's no longer in critical condition, but we don't know the extent of the damage he has sustained."
A spokesman for Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where the soldier is hospitalized, said he was in stable condition.
