Israel Launches Probe into Soldiers Killed by ‘Friendly Fire’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli regime initiated an investigation into the deaths of five soldiers due to “friendly fire” in northern Gaza on Wednesday.
“Five soldiers of the 202nd Paratrooper Battalion were killed last night in a mass casualty incident as a result of fire by our forces,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that seven other troops were wounded.
According to a preliminary investigation, two Israeli tanks in the area opened fire on a house used by the Israeli battalion’s deputy commander, the military said.
“The shooting consisted of two tank shells,” it said. “From the initial investigation … it appears that the tank fighters identified a gun barrel coming out of one of the windows in the building, and directed each other to shoot at the building.”
The latest fatalities take to 278 the number of Israeli troops killed in the war on Gaza since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.
This comes as the Palestinian fighters say they have carried out the largest number of attacks per day on Israeli forces operating in the Jabalia refugee camp since the start of the Gaza ground invasion, war monitors report.
Palestinian resistance groups reported carrying out 34 attacks on Wednesday against Israeli forces who re-entered the northern Gaza camp on Saturday in a renewed push to “clear” resistance from northern parts of the Palestinian territory.
With Palestinian attacks averaging 30 daily, “this marks the highest rate of attacks per day in Jabalia since the war began”, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said in their latest battlefield report.
