A schism over how the Palestinian territory should be governed going forward surfaced among the war cabinet on Thursday, when Israel said that five of its soldiers had been killed by friendly fire during a combat in Gaza.
Israeli soldiers were battling Palestinian militants in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah and in fresh flashpoints in the northern and center regions of the besieged enclave more than seven months into the conflict that was set off by Hamas’s October 7 offensive.
The five troops, according to the army, were murdered on Wednesday during fighting in the northern Jabalia refuge camp when two Israeli tanks unintentionally fired shells at the structure they were in.
“Five soldiers of the 202nd Paratrooper Battalion were killed last night in a mass casualty incident as a result of fire by our forces,” the military said, adding that seven other troops were wounded.
Heavy fighting has flared again in the north following army warnings of “attempts by Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities” months after Israel had declared local militant command structures dismantled.
Israeli airplanes struck locations around Gaza overnight, including Gaza City and its southern Zeitun neighborhood, Jabalia, and the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to AFP reporters, witnesses, and medical professionals on Thursday.
Rafah, close to the Egyptian border, has been the center of the military’s attention. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an attack there despite US concerns that over a million civilians seeking sanctuary there could be caught in the crossfire.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu asserted that “we have to do what we have to do” and that the widespread evacuations had prevented a “humanitarian catastrophe,” which was much anticipated.
Washington — long Israel’s main political, diplomatic and military supporter — has repeatedly urged its ally to take greater steps to protect and aid civilians, and to make a post-war plan for Gaza to avoid being mired in a long counter-insurgency campaign.
