Watch: Haredi Soldiers Rescue Palestinians From River - Israel News, Ynetnews

Ultra-Orthodox troops use civilian tractor to pull Palestinians trapped in car; 669 unit helicopter boards family trapped on roof surrounded by water, power lines

Lifesaving cooperation occurred Tuesday between haredi IDF troops and Palestinians who were trapped in a stream growing violent due to the stormy weather.

Soldiers of the IDF’s haredi battalion Netzah Yehuda managed to rescue three Palestinian men before the fierce currents washed over them. Ynet obtained a documentation of the rescue.

The IDF troops were called to an area near the Nablus River, where, they were told, cars were stranded with their drivers trapped in a constantly intensifying current.

The storm was too severe for helicopters to arrive at the scene, and the battalion commander resorted to utilizing a Palestinian’s tractor that was passing by.

The commander mounted the tractor, as he and the owner drove toward the trapped cars, rescuing three men. A fourth man is known to have also been trapped in the river, but he was not found and was reported missing.

The tractor exited the flooded area just before the asphalt started collapsing. The soldiers gave the rescued men initial medical care at the scene.

Throughout Wednesday, Netzah Yehuda rescued some 33 people, of whom 30 who were trapped in a bus. In many of the rescues, the troops worked in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority’s rescue forces.

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Unit 669’s intricate rescue

The Air Force’s special search and rescue division, Unit 669, involved in Tuesday’s rescues resulting from the stormy weather, also faced a challenging rescue mission on Wednesday, when it was called in to help a family trapped on the roof of a Tayibe house, surrounded by water.

Read more at YNet.