Gaza Instructions "Friendly Fire" incident that led to the deaths of more Israeli soldiers

Five Israeli soldiers were killed by tank fire made on Wednesday evening by their units in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. This is one of the deadliest incidents since the beginning of the war against Hamas in October in Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on the other hand, said that two tanks fired some shells that fell into a building where the 202nd Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade had gathered, allegedly mistaking them for Hamas fighters. In addition to my own, seven other soldiers were injured, three of them very badly.

A total of 278 soldiers of the Israeli army who were killed in the Gaza operation have succumbed to their injuries as of Wednesday. The IDF confessed that 44 of these fatalities, or 15%, were due to what the IDF classifies as 'accidents during operation' such as friendly fire, weapons mishaps, and other incidents not involving the enemy.

The fatal friendly fire incident is one of the series of events, around which Israeli forces have remounted operations in the Jabalia area in the last few days after withdrawing earlier, saying that Hamas has regrouped there. Moreover, Jabalia and Rafah have become war zones as intense fighting is now happening there.

Following the deaths of over 35,000 Palestinians since October and the humanitarian situation being at its worst point, fears are on the rise that Hamas will kill a massive number of civilians if the IDF decides to attack in full scale the Rafah area, which is now the only place in the hands of Hamas terrorists left.

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The situation illustrates a tragic consequence of the ongoing Gaza war that is shattering the lives of both sides without a solution appearing. But questions remain whether such friendly fire tragedies would increase internal Israeli discontent with the way the operation is being conducted.