The Israeli military has reported that one-fifth of its soldiers who have died in the ongoing invasion of Gaza were killed by friendly fire, amid continuing uncertainty and suspected under-reporting of Israeli casualties in the besieged Strip.

Noting that the Occupation’s military constantly carries out assessments to the ongoing fighting in Gaza, including data surrounding friendly fire, the statement further clarified that, out of that number, 13 soldiers were shot by their fellow Israeli troops after being mistaken for Palestinian resistance fighters, two were run over by military vehicles, two killed by shrapnel from explosives set off by Israeli forces and one killed by a stray bullet.
The variety of reasons that resulted in the incidents, assessed the statement, includes the large number of forces operating within Gaza, communication issues between Occupation forces, as well as soldiers being tired and failing to pay attention to regulations.
The Israeli military’s acknowledgement of the high rate of friendly fire incidents in its ground invasion of Gaza comes amid significant suspicion that the Occupation forces are hiding the true extent of their losses in the operation, with some reports alleging that the number of those soldiers killed are many times higher than reported – something that Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas, has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks.