2 soldiers killed, 8 wounded in Gaza as winds bring surveillance platform down on troops
Initial probe finds machinery used by army to provide troops with mobile observation was blown over, crashed down onto tent with soldiers inside; military opens investigation
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and eight were wounded when a crane used by the military collapsed on them overnight in the Gaza Strip, the army announced Thursday morning.
They were named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Nadav Cohen, 21, from Beit Hanan, and Staff Sgt. Nachman Refael Ben Ami, 20, from Eilat. Both soldiers were of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion.
Of the eight wounded soldiers, one was listed in serious condition.
The incident happened around midnight at a position near the Israel-Gaza border.
According to an initial IDF probe, strong winds that swept across the region caused a crane operated by the military to fall over during the night, crashing down on the soldiers.
The crane was holding aloft a platform containing surveillance equipment and antennas, used by the IDF in Gaza during the war to provide mobile observation for troops.
As it toppled over, the crane came down on a fortified military post, landing on the tent where the soldiers were.
The IDF has opened an investigation into the incident.
The probe will focus on why troops did not take into consideration the weather conditions and either secure the crane or bring it down for the night.
In the meantime, the IDF has ordered a halt in the use of all such crane platforms in the area.
Amit Cohen, Nadav’s uncle, told the Ynet outlet that the accident “should not have happened.”
“We thought everything was behind us, and then this disaster came,” he said, referring to the ceasefire that began last month and halted the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“It is terrible, terrible. Words can’t fill the void,” he said.
War erupted in Gaza on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of terrorists to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 to the Gaza Strip as hostages.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is to gradually withdraw from Gaza and free many hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in return for the release of some of the hostages.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip now stands at 410.
