Killed reservists named as Daniel Alloush, Tom Ish-Shalom

2 soldiers killed, several injured in helicopter crash in south Gaza

Black Hawk flew to Rafah to evacuate seriously wounded combat engineer; due to unknown reason, it failed to touch down correctly in IDF encampment

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

The site of an IDF helicopter crash in the southern Gaza Strip, September 11, 2024. (Courtesy)
The site of an IDF helicopter crash in the southern Gaza Strip, September 11, 2024. (Courtesy)

Two soldiers were killed and several were injured when an Israeli Air Force helicopter crashed in the southern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, in what the military described as an accident.

They were named by the Israel Defense Forces as Sgt. Maj. (res.) Daniel Alloush, 37, from Tel Aviv, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Tom Ish-Shalom, 38, from Nes Harim.

Both served in the IAF’s elite search and rescue Unit 669.

According to an initial IAF probe, a UH-60 Black Hawk from the 123rd Squadron flew to Rafah with a Unit 669 medical team on Tuesday night to evacuate a combat engineer seriously wounded in fighting in the area.

During the final landing stage inside an Israeli army encampment in Rafah at around 12:30 a.m., the helicopter impacted the ground instead of touching down correctly.

According to the probe, the helicopter was not hit by enemy fire, and the crash occurred moments before it was supposed to land, meaning it did not fall from a significant height.

The helicopter was still heavily damaged in the crash, and all those aboard it were injured.

Sgt. Maj. (res.) Tom Ish-Shalom (left) and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Daniel Alloush (right), killed in a helicopter crash in southern Gaza, early September 11, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

In all, two soldiers were killed and another eight were taken to hospitals — including the combat engineer who was injured separately during fighting in Rafah.

Among the seriously wounded in the crash were two pilots and a mechanic with the IAF’s 123rd Squadron; and a reservist doctor and another soldier with Unit 669.

Additionally, a reservist Unit 669 doctor and another mechanic with the 123rd Squadron were moderately wounded in the crash, the IDF said.

The seriously wounded combat engineer, who was supposed to be evacuated by the crashed Black Hawk, served with the 710th Combat Engineering Battalion.

IDF troops with the 401st Armored Brigade are seen operating in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in this handout photo published on September 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

It was still unclear what led to the crash, although the IAF described it as an accident.

IAF Chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar ordered a probe to determine why the helicopter impacted the ground in the encampment instead of landing correctly.

Black Hawk helicopters, known in the IAF as the Yanshuf — Owl in Hebrew — are used for both routine transportation missions and to drop off and pick up troops during military operations. Amid the war in Gaza, the choppers have been used for medical evacuations from inside the Strip, taking close to 2,000 wounded soldiers to hospitals in Israel.

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