Waze App Gets Israeli Solders Lost, Triggers Gunfight in Jerusalem

A gunfight started in Jerusalem after Israeli soldiers accidentally wandered into the Palestinian neighborhood, misguided by their Waze navigation app, the Washington Post reports.
Waze App Gets Israeli Solders Lost, Triggers Gunfight in Jerusalem
Israeli soldiers stand guard at the Gush Etzion junction in the Israeli occupied West Bank on the main road between Jerusalem and Hebron on January 5, 2016 (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
Jonathan Zhou
3/2/2016
Updated:
3/2/2016

The apps are driving our cars, flying our drones, and now, starting our battles.

A gunfight started in Jerusalem after Israeli soldiers accidentally wandered into a Palestinian neighborhood, misguided by their Waze navigation app, the Washington Post reports. 

The Israeli army had to send troops into the Qalandiya refu­gee camp to rescue two soldiers who had wandered there, triggering a gunfight that left one Palestinian dead and 10 injured. 

The two soldiers had gotten there by following instructions from Waze, which had been set to the “avoid dangerous areas” option. 

Waze has pushed back, however, saying that the setting to avoid dangerous areas had been turned off, and that the two soldiers were following the directions given by the app closely. 

It’s still not clear how the two soldiers got to the camp in the first place, as the West Bank is separated from Israel by a wall and a checkpoint. 

Driving through the neighborhood in an armed vehicle, the soldiers were mistaken for being on a military raid and were attacked with firebombs and rocks. 

After rescue troops located the two soldiers, they came into the neighborhood, sparking resistance. A 22-year-old Palestinian man named Iyad Sajadiyya was killed, according to the Palestinian news outlet Maan