Scene of a chopper crash in Gaza
The IDF said on Wednesday that two of its soliders were killed in a helicopter crash at the Philadelphi Corridor in the Gaza Strip. Six others were injured, three of them seriously. An initial investigation into the crash revealed that it was not enemy fire or human error that led to the crash.
"Overnight, an Israeli Air Force "Yanshuf" helicopter, which was on a mission to evacuate an injured soldier to a hospital for medical treatment, crashed while landing in the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip. An initial inquiry conducted indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. There is no change to the IAF's operational activities," the military said in a statement.
"During the incident, six additional soldiers were injured to varying degrees and were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment. Their families have been notified," according to the IDF.
All of the wounded, including the soldier that was being evacuated and the crew on board the helicopter, were evacuated safely to Israel over land as an investigation of the crash was initiated.
According to the military, the helicopter was sent to extract a soldier from the Engineering Corps who was badly wounded from sniper fire. As the aircraft approached its landing it hit the ground instead of landing properly. All eight on board were hurt including the two fatalities.
The IDF said this was the first accident involving the Yanshuf helicopter, whose pilots have been operating around the clock since October 7; throughout the war theyhave assisted in the rescue of nearly 2,000 wounded soldiers, most of them from the battles in the Gaza Strip. All training flights of the helicopter are now suspended pending results of the investigation.
The extraction helicopter arrived at 12:32 a.m. with teams from unit 669 to an airstrip to evacuate the injured Engineering Corps fighter who was operating in Philadelpi corridor area under the Givati brigade. On the last leg of the landing, moments before the helicopter was supposed to touch the ground, the helicopter hit the ground and crashed.
The victims were evacuated from the scene in a special ground and helicopter operation to the Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva by 2:00 am. Four additional Air Force helicopters participated in the evacuation.
Following the incident, the Commander of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, appointed an IAF investigative committee to examine the circumstances of the incident. The members of the committee arrived early in the morning at the scene between Rafah and Philadelphi to collect the first findings from the helicopter that was damaged and out of commission.
This is the first crash of a helicopter in the Iron Swords War, but not the first helicopter damaged since October 7: On the morning of the outbreak of the war, a Yasur helicopter that dropped fighters near Kibbutz Alumim erupted in flames after being hit by Hamas fire. There were no casualties in that incident. In several other incidents, helicopters were hit by small arms fire from terrorists, but not in a way that harmed the flight or the pilots.