Two Israeli reserve soldiers were killed on Thursday when a military drone exploded after crashing inside their position in northern Gaza during its second operational mission. The Israeli army said the soldiers approached the drone to inspect it after it fell, before it exploded for reasons still under investigation. No other soldiers were injured in the incident.
The army identified the two men as Nadav Kali, 24, from Har Halutz, and Ofek Moalem, 23, from Jerusalem. Both were reserve soldiers serving with the 16th Brigade. According to details of the incident, the two sustained critical injuries and were treated at the scene before being flown to a hospital in Israel. Their deaths were later announced at the Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon.
The commander of the 99th Division, Brigadier General Elad Tsuri, said the soldiers had successfully completed the drone’s first mission, but the aircraft used for the second mission crashed inside the military site. He added that they went to the crash site to check what had happened, and the aircraft exploded as they approached it. He described them as “excellent soldiers”, explaining that one was a sergeant and the other a platoon commander.
Details of the incident indicate that it occurred near Beit Hanoun, where the soldiers were operating two drones from the military site. The first aircraft reached its destination as planned, while the second crashed after being launched inside the same site. Tsuri said the 16th Brigade had been operating in this area of northern Gaza since 10 September.
Army investigates drone explosion
The Israeli army opened an investigation into all possibilities, including whether communications jamming or the use of the electromagnetic spectrum caused the drone to crash. The investigation is also examining how the device carried by the aircraft exploded when the soldiers approached it.
Although the possibility of Hamas involvement is being examined, the army currently believes that the group lacks the operational capability needed to carry out a manoeuvre of this kind in the electromagnetic spectrum. The army declined to say whether the aircraft was a suicide drone or designed to drop munitions. It announced a halt to the operation of all attack drones and drones used to drop munitions on every front until the investigation produces its findings.
In another account attributed to the army, the suspension applied only to the drone model that exploded in the incident. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz offered his condolences to the soldiers’ families, saying that while Israelis were preparing for the holiday, two families were facing “the worst that can happen”.
Katz offers condolences to soldiers’ families
He added: “On behalf of the entire security establishment, I would like to embrace their families and send them my condolences from the bottom of my heart,” expressing the hope that the memory of Nadav and Ofek would endure. According to Israeli army figures, the number of its soldiers killed since the start of the war has risen to 970.
The last Israeli military fatality in Gaza before Thursday’s incident was Ofri Yaffe, from the Paratroopers Brigade and Moshav Hayogev in the Jezreel Valley. He was killed by friendly fire in Khan Younis on 18 February during an engineering operation to demolish buildings.
Among the most recent deaths linked to Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip was also Raad Abu al-Qi'an, a resident of the Bedouin town of Hura who worked in Gaza as a civilian contractor for Israel’s Defence Ministry. Abu al-Qi'an was killed in June when a building collapsed in Jabalia.
