Israeli Tank Fire Mistakenly Kills 5 Troops in Gaza Strip

Thursday, 16 May 2024 11:08 AM

An Israeli army tank moves near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 15, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Five Israeli soldiers have been killed and several others injured in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip when Israeli tanks mistakenly fired shells at a building occupied by Israeli forces.

In a statement on Thursday, the Israeli military said the friendly fire, one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since Tel Aviv launched its ongoing genocidal war in the Palestinian territory in October, took place in Jabalia in northern Gaza, where heavy fighting is taking place between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters.

At around 7 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Israeli tanks mistakenly fired shells at a building where Israeli soldiers had occupied in the area, the military said, adding that the shelling killed five Israeli soldiers and wounded seven others, including three seriously.

The troops all served in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, and were part of an ultra-Orthodox company.

An initial investigation into the deaths of five Israeli soldiers reveals Israeli “tanks, located dozens of meters away, identified a weapon and fired shells" at a gathering of Israeli forces there, the statement said.

“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,” it further said.

The tank forces had arrived in the area in the morning, and several hours later, the paratroopers reached the area and established a post in the building, Israeli media said.

Hamas, in marking the Nakba Day, has hailed the "epic" resistance against the Israeli war machine.

The deadly incident on Wednesday evening brought to 278 the toll of slain Israeli forces since the regime’s ground aggression against Gaza, which began in late October.

Figures by the Israeli military show that at least 49 of the 278 Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip lost their lives by friendly fire and in other accidents.

Israel launched the brutalities in Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas conducted the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation in the occupied Palestinian land.

Israel has killed more than 35,272 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza since the onset of the current war.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodletting, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its “goals”, namely defeating Hamas, releasing the captives, and causing forced displacement of the coastal sliver’s entire population to neighboring Egypt.