The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed on Monday that Lieutenant Shahar Ben Nun, 21, from Petah Tikva, a commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit, was killed during a raid on the outskirts of the Hamed neighborhood in the western part of Gaza’s Khan Younis.
Three other soldiers were moderately injured and three more suffered minor injuries in the incident. A total of 694 IDF soldiers have been killed in the Gaza war, 333 of them since the start of the IDF’s ground operations in Gaza beginning on October 27.
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Lieutenant Shahar Ben Nun was killed in a friendly fire incident in Gaza
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
A preliminary investigation into the incident revealed that around 6:40 a.m., an explosion took place in a six-story building where Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit troops were stationed, causing part of the structure to collapse on the soldiers. The casualties were evacuated via helicopter to hospitals across the country.
The investigation also found an airstrike by Israeli Air Force fighter jets supporting the forces in the area targeted two objectives simultaneously, one of them located 300 meters (984 feet) from the force, with munitions intended to hit the target.
Due to a technical malfunction, the bomb, dropped by an F-15, struck an apartment adjacent to the one where the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit force was located, resulting in Ben Nun's death.
Further findings indicated the bomb was aimed to hit a different target, but the munition continued to travel 290 meters (951 feet) beyond the intended target and struck the apartment next to the team, causing the collapse of a wall adjacent to the apartment where the fallen officer's unit was positioned.