On 8 April, a major gunbattle broke out, damaging the facade of the church and causing a fire. Both sides claimed the shooting had begun from the other side. The IDF claimed that the Palestinians had opened fire from a bell tower, wounding two Israel Border Police gendarmes in a nearby rooftop look-out. An IDF officer said the Israeli troops returned fire, and threw a smoke grenade, which started a blaze in a second-floor meeting hall overlooking the Basilica of St Catherine, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. One Palestinian militant was killed.