From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 19, 2024
IDF officer killed due to malfunctioning Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s Khan Younis
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
An Israeli officer was killed and several others were wounded by a failed Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip this morning, the military announces.
The soldier is named as Lt. Shahar Ben Nun, 21, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Petah Tikva.
In addition to the killed soldier, another three were moderately wounded and three others were lightly wounded.
According to an initial IDF probe, at around 6:30 a.m. Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets were striking several targets in the Khan Younis area. One of the missiles, due to a technical issue, did not correctly glide to the intended target, and instead struck a multi-story building where the paratroopers were stationed.
The building was some 300 meters away from the intended target, the probe found.
The missile struck one of the apartments in the upper floors of the building. The soldiers in an adjacent apartment were hurt after part of the building collapsed on them.
The IAF says that the incident is an outlier, and that it has not seen such a malfunction before. Tens of thousands of munitions have been fired from fighter jets amid the war in Gaza, with no comparable malfunctions, according to the military.
