One of the two Israelis mistakenly killed by Israeli troops near the southern West Bank city of Hebron today was an army officer, it has emerged.
Israeli forces had opened fire on the pair with heavy gunfire and an attack helicopter, thinking they were Palestinian.
The army confirmed the killings in a statement expressing regret at the blunder and named the officer as First Lieutenant Yoav Doron (23) from Jerusalem.
Public radio named the other victim as Mr Yehuda Ben Yosef(22) from Maaleh Adumim settlement, just north of Jerusalem.
Both men were working for a civilian security firm at the time, the radio reported, saying Lt Doron had finished his compulsory military service earlier in the week and was waiting to take up a permanent post in the army.
According to the army, an initial inquiry showed that a routine patrol fired on one of the men when he got into his car after ignoring the soldiers' calls to stop.
"On hearing the shots the other armed suspect began running. He was shot and killed by a helicopter," it said.
Military sources said the two armed men, who were accompanying Palestinian workers, had stopped for a coffee at the roadside near the Jewish settlement of Pnei Hever, close to the Zif junction where Palestinian gunmen have launched several deadly ambushes.
Mistaking them for Palestinians militants, soldiers opened fire, fatally injuring one. The second man tried to run but was killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship swooped and fired a missile at him, the sources said.
The victims' car was riddled with bullet holes.
The terrified Palestinian workers, who survived the attackunscathed, rushed to call their employers by mobile phone, who contacted the army to tell them of their deadly blunder, the source said.
AFP