In April 2003 the IDF were on a mission in the Gaza border town of Rafiah, from which they claim many of the tunnels used to smuggle arms and explosives cross from Egypt. Hurndall and a group of activists were in the area as part of their peace activism, and had planned to set up a "peace tent" on one of the nearby roads to blockade IDF tank patrols. At an IDF checkpoint on April 11, the IDF claims they came under fire from Palestinian gunmen and returned fire, causing Hurndall's group of nine activists to abandon their protest and seek cover. Hurndall then ran out into the street and was shot in the head by an IDF soldier. According to ISM and Palestinian witnesses, he had run out into the street to protect children who were in the street at the time. The head wound put him into a coma in which he would remain for the remaining nine months of his life.
Initially the IDF concluded that Hurndall was shot accidentally in the crossfire, and suggested that his group's members were essentially functioning as human shields. However, Hurndall's parents collected evidence that he was shot at personally, rather than having been merely hit in the crossfire, and demanded an investigation. After several months of pressure from the parents, supported in part by UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw, Israel's Judge Advocate General Menahem Finkelstein in October 2003 ordered the IDF to open a military police investigation into Hurndall's death.
On January 1, 2004, an IDF soldier from a Bedouin Arab patrol appeared in court to have his custody extended; apparently he had been arrested at some point in December in connection with the shooting. Initially the soldier admitted to shooting what he described as a man wearing a uniform of a Palestinian faction and armed with a pistol. Upon further interrogation, he changed his story, and said he had fired a shot near an unarmed civilian as a deterrent, but ended up hitting him unintentionally. Subsequently, the soldier was indicted on six charges, including a charge of aggravated assault; following Hurndall's death, the military judge overseeing the case indicated the charge was likely to be changed to manslaughter or murder.
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