The IDF announced on Monday that around 17% of its soldiers’ war-related deaths since around the end of October and the invasion of Gaza have been accidents.
Some of these accidents have been “friendly fire” incidents, while some have been tanks driving over soldiers they did not see or cables, walls falling on soldiers, or errors with explosives during demolition preparations against Hamas.
In absolute numbers, 29 out of 170 killed soldiers have been from mistakes in the field.
Friendly fire incidents in Gaza
Broken down, 18 of the deaths were from “friendly fire,” two from “exceptional fire incidents,” and nine from accidents.
Most of the dead are from the Gaza invasion, including two, three, six, and four per week from October 29 – November 25.
Another five, two, four, and three died per week during the Gaza invasion from December 3 until December 30, with none dying during the temporary ceasefire.
Two soldiers also died in the North due to accidents during late October-early November and two soldiers died during the first week of the war in the Central Command, one from an exceptional shooting circumstance and one from an accident.
To date, The Jerusalem Post had been told these numbers on background, but they had been kept under wraps from the Israeli public.
Their release suggests the IDF is rolling out a wide variety of transitional messages as it draws down on how many reservists are serving, hopes for continued reduced rocket trends, and generally moves toward lower-intensity conflict from a full-scale war.