Eight soldiers were lightly injured Friday during a parachuting exercise in southern Israel. The soldiers were taken to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for treatment, and most were released shortly afterwards.
Although some IDF units train for paradrops, the Israeli military has not executed a paratroop operation since the battle for Sinai’s Mitla Pass in 1956.
Serious accidents in jump training are not uncommon in the IDF. In 2008, Dror Paltin, the commander of the IDF parachuting school in Tel-Nof, was severely injured during a routine training jump at Palmahim beach. Two years earlier, Joseph Goodman, a 21-year-old soldier from the elite Maglan unit, was killed in a jump at Nitzanim beach.
Last year, the IDF’s top brass decided to increase the number of training jumps in order to “return regimental airdrop capabilities to the army’s arsenal.” More than a thousand soldiers and commanders of the Paratroopers Brigade parachuted in southern Israel last January, 12 years after a similar exercise took place.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
