Five “Israeli” Troops Killed in Friendly Fire in Gaza Strip

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.

The deadly incident on Wednesday evening brought to 278 the toll of slain “Israeli” forces since the entity’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.

The “Israeli” entity launched the brutalities in Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas conducted the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the entity’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation in the occupied Palestinian land.

The entity 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 entity 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.