According to the Israeli military, five soldiers were killed by friendly fire in northern Gaza, and more forces will be joining the Rafah operation.
The Israel Defense Forces announced that it has launched an inquiry into the fatal event, claiming that the soldiers were struck by cross-fire from tanks near Jabalia.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said that five soldiers were killed and seven were injured in a friendly fire incident in northern Gaza, during the ongoing conflict with reconstituted Hamas terrorists.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed to have launched an investigation into the dangerous occurrence, outlining how the soldiers were injured by tank crossfire near Jabalia.
Israel’s defence minister announced the addition of additional troops to the ground battle in Rafah. The attack has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee the southern Gaza Strip, where they had sought refuge due to the ongoing conflict in the north.
“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 Israel Defense Forces stated in a statement.
The IDF, the statement continued, “is probing why the shells were fired and if the soldiers were mistaken for armed militants.” The soldiers belonged to the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion.
Seven months into its battle to eliminate Hamas, Israeli forces are once again engaged in severe fighting in regions of northern Gaza that the IDF previously said had been cleansed, casting doubt on the government’s war strategy.
The United States has increased pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to outline a post-war Gaza strategy, and on Wednesday he faced rare public criticism on the matter from inside his own War Cabinet.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attacked Netanyahu in a nationally televised statement for refusing to tackle the subject. He claimed that this would force Israel to retake control of the Palestinian enclave, something he strongly opposed.
We must make harsh decisions for our country’s future, putting national goals ahead of all other concerns, even if it means incurring personal or political sacrifices,” Gallant stated.
Still, Netanyahu argues that the focus must be on capturing Rafah, where his troops have increased operations since calling on residents in the city’s east to flee last week.
After surveying the Gaza border near Rafah on Wednesday, Gallant stated that “additional troops will join the ground operation in Rafah.”
“This operation will continue as additional forces enter [the area],” Gallant stated, according to a transcript supplied by his office the following day. “Our forces have demolished several tunnels in the region, and others will be destroyed shortly.
According to the United Nations (UN), more than 600,000 people have been compelled to leave parts of Gaza’s largest city of metropolis where more than one million Palestinians sought refuge, with an additional 100,000 relocated in northern Gaza.
The United Nations‘ top court begins two days of hearings on Thursday examining South Africa’s request to halt Israeli activities in Rafah.
The steady rise in help streaming into the Gaza Strip in recent months may also be wiped out by Israel’s attack on Rafah, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, with one major aid crossing closed and another restricted.
The United States Central Command announced early Thursday that it had successfully anchored a temporary humanitarian pier to a beach in Gaza to increase the flow of aid.
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