By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s military suffered setbacks Thursday after officials confirmed that five troops were killed in a “friendly fire” incident in Gaza while elsewhere, an Israeli air force base in northern Israel was hit by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.
The friendly fire incident happened Wednesday in the Jabalya area in northern Gaza but was only revealed Thursday for security reasons.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said two tanks were mistakenly firing on “a forward IDF battalion headquarters,” apparently believing they were Hamas fighters, resulting in casualties.
At least five IDF soldiers were killed, and seven more were injured, the IDF added in a statement, the latest in a series of causalities in the ongoing Israel war against Hamas in Gaza.
Ahead of the incident, tank crews had been “under extreme pressure” from dozens of rocket-propelled grenade attacks in the area, apparently from Hamas and allies, Israeli sources said.
Those killed were named as Sergeant Roy Beit Yaakov, 22, from Eli; Sergeant Daniel Chemu, 20, from Tiberias; Sergeant Ilan Cohen, 20, from Karmiel; Staff Sergeant Gilad Arye Boim, 22, from Karnei Shomron and Staff Sergeant Betzlel David Shashuah, 21, from Tel Aviv.
Outside Gaza, Iran-backed Hezbollah claimed responsibility for what it said was its “deepest strike to date” inside Israel. The Lebanon-based militia referred to a drone striking an IDF air force base in northern Israel.
SHOOTING DOWN DRONE
The IDF confirmed the attack Thursday, saying they succeeded in shooting down a second attack drone launched by Hezbollah. The Israeli military was probing how it could avoid similar future incidents.
Officials said several drones have avoided IDF defenses in more cases than Hezbollah rockets.
Already on Wednesday, Lebanese and Israeli media said that up to dozens of rockets, as well as some anti-tank missiles, were fired at Israel’s Western Galilee area, including Mount Meron, an area where the IDF has an air force base.
Hezbollah, which supports Hamas, has made clear it wants to open a second front in an attempt to exhaust Israel’s military, which is already involved in ongoing operations in Gaza.
Despite setbacks, Israel said Thursday it is still hoping to close down “the last gasps of Hamas’s rocket and mortar capabilities,” which had been kept hidden in Rafah and apparently also in Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
Late Thursday night, the IDF said that it had located and destroyed “a wide variety of Hamas rockets and rocket launchers in Rafah,” both using ground troops and surveillance drones.
As the war continues, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been evacuated toward humanitarian zones in Gaza established by Israeli forces, authorities say.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that some 16,000 civilians and at least 14,000 Hamas fighters have been killed in the armed conflict in Gaza, which is home to some 2.3 million people. “For us, every civilian death is a tragedy; for Hamas, it is a strategy,” he said.
The war began after Hamas fighters entered Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and injuring hundreds more.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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