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.”

  • SkyezOpen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 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·
      2 months ago

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