Ten Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers were injured when a captured Hezbollah RPG rocket accidentally discharged during a training session at a Combat Engineering base in the Negev region, military officials reported Wednesday evening.
According to an initial military investigation released by Doron Kadosh, the incident occurred at 8:47 PM during an "enemy munitions recognition" class at the Combat Engineering Training Base. The RPG launched unexpectedly inside the classroom and fired toward the door at close range. The rocket, identified as an MPO-type weapon, detonated inside the classroom, causing injuries to the soldiers and structural damage to the building.
The class was part of an IED threat workshop being conducted for infantry training base soldiers, which included displays of captured enemy weapons and explosives. Ten soldiers sustained moderate to light injuries in the blast.
A separate report from Almog Boker confirmed the details of the accident, noting that it took place during a professional instruction session focused on recognizing enemy munitions. This type of training is part of the standard curriculum at the facility, which serves as the main training base for the IDF's Combat Engineering Corps in southern Israel.
All wounded personnel remained fully conscious throughout the incident and received immediate medical attention from base medical teams before being transported to hospital for further treatment. The base commander quickly arrived at the scene and personally took command of the incident response.
Military Police investigators were dispatched to the site and have begun a preliminary investigation focusing on several critical questions, including who authorized live ammunition inside a training classroom, whether the rocket was properly marked beforehand, and if the rocket was loaded in a launcher at the time of the incident.
Military correspondent Itai Blumenthal emphasized that the incident, which resulted in 10 injuries, could have ended in "a major disaster."
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