A preliminary investigation concludes that the two reservists, killed on Sunday south of Gaza City, were mistakenly identified as enemies during an exchange of fire with terrorists.
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The Israel Defense Forces mistakenly killed two Israeli soldiers last Sunday in the Gaza Strip. This is what a preliminary investigation by the IDF concluded this Tuesday, according to the newspaper Haaretz.
The two soldiers were inside a building that was attacked by Israeli troops, due to an identification mistake by the IDF. The two fatalities are reservists Ido Aviv, 28, and Kalkidan Mehari, 37.. The incident injured two other soldiers.
Aviv lived with his family in the town of Kiryat Bialik, near Haifa, and worked as a surf instructor before being deployed. Mehari (born in Ethiopia but living in Israel since he was 18) was passionate about photography and planned to marry his girlfriend, says the Haaretz.
The IDF explains that, during an “encounter with terrorists” – which led to an exchange of fire – the An Israeli tank crew mistakenly identified the two soldiers as enemies. and shot them even though they were outside the limits defined by the tank crew.
This is the second version presented by the IDF about this incident. This Monday night, the Israel Defense Forces announced the death of two soldiers from the 223rd Battalion as a result of an explosion during a fight with armed men in the Netzarim Corridor area, south of Gaza City.
With these two deaths, the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the offensive in the Gaza Strip rises to 263.
Source: Observadora
