IDF soldier shot in head shows slight improvement

Israeli soldier seriously wounded in the Givat Assaf shooting which left two IDF fighters dead has shown an improvement in his condition.

By David Isaac, World Israel News Staff

Netanel Felber’s condition is improving. The soldier sustained a serious bullet wound to the head in the Dec. 13 shooting attack at the Givat Assaf junction in the Binyamin region of Samaria.

Doctors report that Felber is now breathing on his own. However, his condition remains serious.

Last week, his mother said “the doctors do not talk about when he will wake up, rather if he will wake up.”

Felber belongs to the Netzah Yehudah battalion of the Kfir Brigade. The special battalion provides a framework for strictly Orthodox Jewish men to serve while keeping religious laws.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett called for a special Sabbath of prayer last Saturday after visiting Felber.

“This coming Shabbat we, all the people of Israel, secular and religious, will pray for the critically wounded soldier Netanel Felber, who is fighting for his life,” he wrote.

Another prayer vigil is planned at 7:00 pm, Sunday at the Western Wall for Felber’s recovery.

Bennett also visited another injured soldier wounded in a separate attack in Beit El on Dec. 14. In that attack Naveh Rotem, also from the Netzah Yehudah battalion, was attacked from behind by a terrorist who sprayed him with mace.

“Because they were close he wasn’t able to fire at him [the terrorist]. They struggled, Naveh fought with his hands,” Naveh’s father told Israel’s Army Radio. The terrorist who eventually turned himself in, was bruised and wounded.

There have been a string of recent attacks in Judea and Samaria, particularly the Binyamin region in the last weeks.

Felber was injured in a terrorist shooting attack which left two IDF soldiers dead, 19-year-old Corporal Yosef Cohen and and 20-year-old Staff Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef, both of the Netzah Yehuda battalion.

Israeli security forces are searching for the terrorist, Assam Barghouti, who is the brother of the terrorist Salah Barghouti, who carried out the attack near Ofra, which cost a pregnant woman her baby. He was killed resisting  arrest. Assam and Salah are the children of Omar Barghouti, a high-ranking Hamas leader.