The Israel Defense Forces said it had opened an investigation into the deadly incident, which it said happened when the soldiers were hit by tank crossfire in Jabalia.

The Israeli military said Thursday that five soldiers were killed and seven injured in a friendly fire incident in northern Gaza, amid renewed battles in the area against regrouped Hamas militants.

“An initial investigation into the deaths of five IDF soldiers reveals that IDF tanks, located dozens of meters away, identified a weapon and fired shells at an IDF force nearby,” the IDF said in a statement.

“This force had entered the northern part of Gaza and occupied buildings along a logistic route. The tanks fired two shells for unclear reasons, resulting in seven more soldiers being injured, three severely.”

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    262·
    6 months ago

    It’s always unfortunate when friendly fire happens… in this particular case the soldiers were mistaken for Palestinian civilians and it was ethically impossible for the other soldiers not to shoot. /s

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The Israeli military said Thursday that five soldiers were killed and seven injured in a friendly fire incident in northern Gaza, amid renewed battles in the area against regrouped Hamas militants.

    The Israel Defense Forces said it had opened an investigation into the deadly incident, which it said happened when the soldiers were hit by tank cross-fire in Jabalia.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under growing pressure from the U.S. to lay out a plan for post-war Gaza, and on Wednesday he faced rare public criticism on the issue from within his own War Cabinet.

    Still, Netanyahu insists the focus must be on invading Rafah, where his troops have intensified operations since calling on residents of the city’s east to evacuate last week.

    The U.N.’s top court opens two days of hearings on Thursday into South Africa’s call to halt Israeli operations in Rafah.

    The U.S. Central Command said early Thursday it had successfully anchored a temporary humanitarian pier to a beach in Gaza to increase the flow of aid.

    The original article contains 492 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • nifty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    This just seems to me like poorly trained young people are being forced to go into a fight they’re not fit to fight. The people who are sending them in to die like this should be held accountable.

  • SkyezOpen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Article says the current friendly fire rate is 15% of all Israeli casualties, which is high for a modern military. Not a statistician so I don’t know if it’s unusually high, and also the relatively low number of IDF casualties may contribute to the high ratio, but there seems to be a common thread. IDF communication SUCKS.

    • guacupado@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Israel has a lot of security and urban experience but little actual war experience. There’s a difference in overall strategy.