Almost a fifth of Israeli soldiers who died in Gaza were killed due to friendly fire , according to data released by the Israeli military, Israeli Ynet News reported on 12 December. The same report noted that friendly fire had resulted in an unknown number of deaths in Israel during Hamas’ attack on 7 October. The Israeli military has stated that it would not be “morally sound” to open an investigation into friendly fire incidents “due to the immense and complex quantity of them that took place in the kibbutzim and southern Israeli communities,” Ynet wrote in the same report. Out of the 105 fatalities since the launch of the ground invasion of Gaza on 20 October, at least 20 soldiers were killed due to friendly fire by the Israeli army. The data reveals that 13 soldiers were misidentified as enemy combatants. Additionally, one soldier was fatally wounded by a stray bullet, while six others lost their lives in various accidents, including being run over by armored vehicles. Another soldier was killed due to an Israeli airstrike when an attack helicopter fired upon a building where troops were located. The…
One Fifth of Israeli Soldier Deaths in Gaza from Friendly Fire, IDF Data Reveals
December 14, 2023
By Belal Nawar
Senior Journalist
