Shell that killed soldier in drill was 1.6 km. off target
Negligence caused death of Yishai Rosales, investigation said to find; fatal mortar shell was fired without warning
Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.

Poor oversight and lax safety precautions have reportedly been pinpointed as contributing factors in the death of an officer last week during an IDF training exercise in the south of the county.
According to the army investigation into the incident, a number of operational faults led to the death of Yishai Rosales when a mortar round exploded during a routine drill, Channel 2 news reported Sunday night.
Following the incident, which took place on the Tzeelim base, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Beersheba, and also lightly wounded a second solider, the head of the IDF Ground Forces, Major General Guy Tzur, postponed all ground forces exercises pending an initial investigation into the incident, the army said in a statement after the incident.
Colonel Ofir Levy, head of a reserve armored brigade, was appointed to lead the probe of the incident, the statement said.

According to Channel 2’s report, the shell fired during the drill landed 1,650 meters away from the intended target. The soldiers who launched the projectile had failed to update their comrades, despite being required to, the report said. Moreover, there was no safety officer present when the shell was launched.
The investigation also reportedly found that the soldiers had not passed the necessary training required before being permitted to operate the launcher.
In addition to Rosales and the other injured soldier, the findings show that several senior officers, including the commander of the Kfir Brigade, were just 300 meters away from the blast.
Rosales, 23, was from Beit Meir, a religious community outside of Jerusalem. He immigrated to Israel with his family several years ago from Mexico, and served in the IDF’s Haredi ‘Netzah Yehuda’ Battalion, in the Kfir Infantry Brigade. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.
Aharon, Rosales’s father, said at the military funeral held last Thursday that “you went from us like a simple man, a righteous man hidden for us and for all the Jewish people.
“Thank you for all you did for us these 23 years. The day will come and we will meet again, my dear and beloved son. You left us and took a large part of our heart with you. Watch over us because we’re going to guard what you left us,” he said.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.