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Disaster in the buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip, during a storm : An operational crane collapsed overnight Thursday in the northern area of the new Gaza buffer zone and two soldiers who were inside a building at the outpost were killed. One of the fallen is reserve soldier Nadav Cohen, 21, from Moshav Beit Hanan, a soldier in the 51st Battalion, Golani Brigade. The second soldier was named as Staff Sergeant Nachman Refael Ben Ami, 20, from Eilat, also from the 51st Battalion, Golani Brigade. Another soldier was seriously injured and seven others were lightly to moderately injured.
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Fallen soldiers Nadav Cohen, 21, and Nachman Refael Ben Ami, 20
(Photos: IDF spokesperson's unit, AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The IDF stopped operating all cranes in the Gaza border area and at outposts in the Gaza Strip on the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors at least until the investigation is completed and the weather clears; according to initial assessments by the IDF, the collapse was caused by a sudden and particularly strong wind.
Initial details indicate that the crane that collapsed is actually a lifting platform that the IDF has frequently used in Gaza since the beginning of the war, a crane that regularly lifts observation equipment such as cameras and radars at temporary outposts.
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The serious safety incident occurred near midnight, and the Military Police investigators may also be involved in the investigation. According to data from the Israel Meteorological Service, winds in the southern coastal plain were blowing at about 60 kilometers per hour at that time of the collapse.
The soldiers were inside a tent and not in a protected structure like other outposts in the new buffer zone. According to initial evidence, there were no early signs that the crane would collapse, such as the crane shaking, and a sudden gust of wind that lasted a few seconds led to its fall onto the encampment, hundreds of meters from the border fence near Kfar Aza.
The strong winds also led to the collapse of trees and poles across the country. A 41-year-old woman was found dead on a street in Eilat Wednesday night, and hypothermia is suspected.
At almost the same time, 4:30 a.m., a call was also received about a 95-year-old man with signs of hypothermia at his home in Bnei Brak. He was taken to Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital in serious condition. neighbors, the sick and the elderly, who live alone, on a daily basis.