A female soldier with the Infantry Corps' Caracal Battalion will be awarded a special commendation for bravery, for shooting a terrorist who infiltrated the Israel-Egypt border in September.

The incident claimed the life of IDF Corporal Netanel Yahalomi

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GOC Southern Command Major-General Tal Russo announced the commendation on Monday.

The sergeant who commanded the platoon during the incident will receive a citation as well.





S. in the field

Corporal S. and her comrade will receive their commendations in a special ceremony that will be held on Tuesday at the IDF's Gaza Division headquarters.

According to the IDF 's inquest into the incident, S. and the sergeant spotted the terrorist – who was wearing an explosive vest – as he was running towards the troops, no doubt with the intent to detonate his explosives as soon as he was near them.

S. saw Yahalomi shot and killed right before her eyes. As the battalion paramedics were rushing over, she used her own experience as a Magen David Adom volunteer paramedic to assess his situation, but realized there was nothing she could do to save his life.

Seeing the terrorist run towards the troops deploying to contain border breach, she did not hesitate to engage, firing one killer shot.

This was her first field experience vis-à-vis hostiles.

Another terrorist, also carrying an explosive belt, detonated the charge near the troops, injuring one seriously.

S. herself said that she originally wanted to join the IAF's Unit 669 – the Air Force search and rescue unit – as a paramedic, "But when we started training I realized this is what I wanted to do."

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