Five Israeli soldiers killed by their own tank

The Israeli military claims that “the shelling was carried out by two tank shells”; Photo: JACK GES/AFP

The Israeli military said five soldiers were killed in friendly fire in the northern Gaza Strip, where intense fighting has resumed more than seven months after the war with Hamas militants began.

Troops were killed. killed on Wednesday at 19:00 local time in the area of ​​the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement.

The latest figures bring the number of Israeli troops killed during the military campaign in the Gaza Strip to 278. The ground offensive began on October 27.

«Five soldiers of the 202nd Parachute Battalion died last night in «resulting from a mass casualty incident resulting from fire by our forces,» the military said in a statement, adding that seven other troops were wounded.

Intense fighting has resumed in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Anadolu

Two tanks in the area, where fighting has been particularly fierce in recent days, opened fire on the house of the deputy commander of the Israeli battalion, the military said.

“The shelling was carried out by two tank shells,” they added.

“From the initial investigation… it turned out that tank soldiers from the ultra-Orthodox Hetz airborne company recognized the barrel of a gun coming out of one of the windows of the building and ordered each other to shoot at the building,” the statement said.

The Israeli military says two tanks in the area opened fire on a house used by an Israeli battalion' deputy commander Photo: Anadolu

The military said on December 12 that more than a tenth of its troops killed in Gaza at the time were killed by Israeli fire, with some other deaths caused by accidents.< /p>

In Fighting has raged in the northern Gaza Strip in recent days, with an army spokesman saying «Hamas has been attempting to rebuild its military capabilities» months after Israel announced it was dismantling the command structure of the Palestinian armed group in the area.< /p>

Fierce fighting and heavy Israeli bombing have been reported in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza and the central Nuseirat camp since the army launched a “targeted” operation focusing on the southern city of Rafah in early May.