Israeli military sources reported that a soldier was killed by “friendly fire”, on Friday at night, during clashes that took place with Palestinian resistance fighters along the border with the Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were wounded, one seriously.The sources stated that Israeli paratroopers exchanged fire with fighters who were trying to plant explosives on a border road used by the army, and that during the clashes, another military brigade accidentally fired rounds of live ammunition and mortars towards the soldiers killing one and wounding five others.
The wounded soldiers were airlifted to the Soroka Israeli hospital in Be’er Sheva. The extent of their wounds was not declared.
Following the clashes, Israeli soldiers and army choppers scouted the area searching for fighters and for explosives that could have been placed by the fighters.
The army also said that according to initial investigations, Palestinian fighters fired several mortars at soldiers, stationed at the Kissufim military base, and exchanged fire with them.
The National Resistance Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, and said that the slain soldier and the four wounded were shot by Palestinian fire and not, as claimed by the army, by friendly fire.
Abu Khaled, spokesperson of the Brigades, said that the attack comes in retaliation to the ongoing Israeli aggression and the killing of Omar al-Qawasmy, 66 years old, who was killed while in his bed after being repeatedly shot by the army in al-Sheikh neighborhood in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
On Friday evening, Israeli soldiers fired artillery shells into an area east of Al Buriej refugee camp in central Gaza. Israeli “Apache” helicopters also fired sounds of live ammunition into the area.
Palestinian sources reported that the attack targeted Juhr Ad Deek area causing excessive damage, no injuries.
Also, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), claimed responsibility for firing a mortar at soldiers invading Abu Al Ojein area, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
