An Israeli soldier was killed by “friendly fire” Monday evening as his unit chased after and captured three infiltrators who were feared to be terrorists. Soldiers patrolling near and around the Gaza region have been on high alert as Hamas and allied terrorists resume rocket fire on southern Israel.
IDF spokesmen said the fallen soldier has been identified as Gabriel Tchipitz of Zichron Yaakov, located west of Haifa.
Fearing an attempt by terrorists to stage an attack or kidnap soldiers, a tank unit was called into action, and its team approached the separation fence by foot because of orders forbidding them to fire shells at possible civilians. A Golani unit had not been updated and mistakenly fired on their comrades.
The IDF is investigating the mis-identification of the soldiers. The infiltrators were found to be unarmed and are being questioned.
Earlier in the day, terrorists fired a rocket towards the Sderot area, but it landed in the area of the security-separation fence.
Sunday night, the Israeli Air Force struck a weapons-smuggling tunnel in the Rafiah area, bordering Egypt, in retaliation for increasing rocket fire. Nine rockets launched from Gaza have landed in Israel since last Thursday, one of them killing a foreign worker. Approximately 35 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel since the beginning of the year.