Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and eight were wounded, half of them seriously, when an Air Force helicopter crashed in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.
According to a preliminary military probe, the UH-60 Black Hawk crashed en route to Rafah to bring a medical team to evacuate a seriously wounded soldier.
“It appears that the crash was not caused by enemy fire, and the cause is still being investigated,” the IDF said.
The names of the soldiers who died will be made public at a later date, added the military.
There have been no changes to Israeli Air Forces activities over the Gaza Strip.
אסון בדרום הרצועה: מסוק צה”ל התרסק סמוך לציר פילדלפי, שני לוחמים נהרגו | יניר יגנהhttps://t.co/BShSzq4x6z pic.twitter.com/ZiV0O34CKe
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The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the IDF ground incursion in Gaza on Oct. 27 now stands at 340, and at 706 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.
Additionally, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in May.
