Israeli army says mistakenly killed 2 soldiers in Gaza last month

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army on Tuesday said it mistakenly killed two of its soldiers during a military operation in the Gaza Strip last month.

According to Army Radio, an Israeli tank spotted suspicious movements in a building and decided to shell its second floor, resulting in the death of the troops.

It was later determined that the building was being used as a base by an infantry commander in the besieged enclave.

Israel has lost at least 491 troops since the start of the latest conflict in Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

In response to the Palestinian group's cross-border offensive, Israel launched air and ground attacks on the coastal territory and has since killed more than 20,000 people, most of them women and children.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected international calls for a cease-fire, said on Monday "we are not stopping" and the "war will continue until the end."

Tel Aviv has vowed to destroy Hamas and ensure the release of all hostages taken during the October attack. Some of them returned after a temporary truce in November in exchange of some Palestinian prisoners.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar​​​​​​​