The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported on Monday that 29 of the army’s deaths were caused by “friendly fire” and operational incidents since the start of the ground war in Gazalate last October, while the Jerusalem Post newspaper revealed that 15 soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip, but their bodies were not found.
The authority quoted Israeli army data as saying that since the beginning of the ground war in the Gaza Strip, “172 soldiers have been killed, including 29 in operational incidents.”
The Israeli authority explained that “18 army soldiers were killed by friendly fire, two as a result of gunfire (without explanation), and 9 Israeli soldiers were killed in ammunition, weapons, or run-over accidents.”
Army data published on Monday indicate that 506 soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7, including 172 since the beginning of the ground attack.
The last toll of Israeli soldiers killed by “friendly fire” in Gaza, issued on December 12, was 20 soldiers, according to official Army Radio.
Missing bodies
For its part, the Jerusalem Post reported that more than 15 soldiers were announced dead in Gaza, but their bodies were not found.
The Israeli newspaper said that the Military Rabbinate announced that the bodies of 15 soldiers killed during the battles in Gaza had not been found, and said that there was a possibility that they would be detained by Hamas, despite the sensitivity and religious complexity of this announcement.
The newspaper pointed out that this matter is not new, but this time the number is large, pointing out that the slogan heard in the halls of rabbis is “zero errors and 100% identification of the killed soldier.”
The newspaper says that the only person authorized to announce the death of a soldier is the Chief Military Rabbi, and this is done after a comprehensive process of collecting and identifying the remains, in consultation with intelligence agencies, medical experts, forensic examiners, and video and photo analysis.
In the event that the remains of a soldier are not present, there are several grounds on which the rabbi can declare the death of the soldier, the most important of which is the information collected by the intelligence services, such as “their interception of a call from the enemy” that includes reference to the death of the soldier, or if the soldier is in a situation from which most of those who die will not survive. They fell into it, or the army learned that the soldier had lost a fatal amount of blood.
If all experts reach the conclusion that the missing soldier is dead, the ruling will be handed over to special teams in the Military Rabbinate made up of rabbis, doctors and lawyers who will confirm the finding, before the case is transferred to the Chief Rabbi for a final decision.
Since October 7, the Israeli occupation army has launched an aggression against Gaza, which as of Sunday left 21,822 martyrs, 56,451 wounded, massive infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.
Source : Al Jazeera + Anatolia + Israeli press
