IDF Soldiers Rescued After 'Waze' Takes Them Into Palestinian Town

Two Israeli soldiers from the canine unit “Oketz,” and therefore not trained combat soldiers, inadvertently entered the Qalandia refugee camp north of Jerusalem on Monday evening and were attacked by local Palestinians.

Palestinian mobs hurled firebombs at the soldiers’ vehicle, which burst into flames. Both Israelis managed to safely escape the vehicle, but were separated in the chaos.

A large number of security forces responded to the scene to rescue the two wayward soldiers, but it took hours before they were both located. In the meantime, fierce battles were waged with local rioters, who used firebombs and live gunfire against the Israelis.

Five Israeli Border Police were injured, as were a number of Palestinians. One Palestinian man was killed in the clash.

It was later revealed that the two soldiers had mistakenly entered the Palestinian town thanks to directions provided by the navigation app Waze.

Officials from Waze responded by noting the system pulls together crowdsourced data, which can come from Palestinians or Israelis. The directions provided to the soldiers might have been perfectly safe for a Palestinian, but Waze can’t know the difference.

By Israel Today Staff