On Wednesday over five Israeli soldiers were killed in a friendly fire attack in Jabalia in northern Gaza. On Monday the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) returned to northern Gaza after it said Hamas had regrouped there.
On Wednesday, as the battle intensified between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers, some IDF tanks mistakenly opened fire at the soldiers of the 202nd Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade.
The friendly attack killed atleast five Israeli soldiers and wounded at least seven more. The IDF in a statement said it was investigating the incident. Acording to the media reports, the tanks were under extreme pressure and were being targeted with rocket-propelled grenade attacks when the friendly fire attack took place.
An initial investigation found that some IDF soldiers had occupied a building in the Jabalia refugee camp just a few metres away from the tanks.
The tanks took them as threats after they found a weapon in the building and opened fire at them. Earlier the IDF pulled out of northern Gaza as it shifted its attention towards the southern regions. However, it reentered the region after it said Hamas fighters were springing up there.
Over the last few days the fighting both in the north and south has intensified. The IDF and Hamas are engaged in an intense battle in Rafah, where about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population took shelter.
Since the outbreak of the battle, some 600,000 people have already fled the city. The IDF has revealed the names of the five soldiers who were killed in the Wednesday attack.
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