First Sergeant Barel Hadarya Shmueli
First Sergeant Barel Hadarya ShmueliIsrael Police

The condition of First Sergeant Barel Hadarya Shmueli, the Border Police officer who was wounded during a Hamas-instigated riot on the Gaza border on Saturday, remains critical.

Shmueli is being treated at Soroka Medical Center in Be'ersheva, where doctors warn that his life remains in danger.

His parents told Kan News: "There was a serious failure here. How did they let them get so close to the soldiers?"

"How can they grab onto them and [the soldiers] don't shoot back?" Shmueli's parents wondered. "These are the instructions for opening fire. These are the instructions that have existed before. Both were failures that allowed them to get close to the fence without opening fire."

They noted that Shmueli, who was to be discharged in two months, was not supposed to be at the Gaza border fence but was sent there in place of another soldier.

Shmueli, 21, is a sniper in the Border Police undercover unit. He was shot in the head by a Gazan from short range and suffered critical injuries.

In another incident on the Gaza border, rioters tried to steal another soldier's weapon. The soldier fought them off and kept hold of his rifle.