Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, disclosed on Monday that the Israeli military inadvertently killed an Israeli civilian with a drone after he crossed the border into the Gaza Strip. This incident comes two weeks following the outbreak of the conflict that began on October 7th.
The paper reported that 29-year-old Aviahu Mori entered the Gaza Strip and walked approximately half a kilometer unobstructed before being struck down by Israeli forces’ gunfire.
Haaretz further stated that the military has confirmed the details of the incident in a conversation with the paper, yet as of now, no officials have reached out to the bereaved family, who are still awaiting answers to their questions.
According to the paper, Dagnit, Mori’s sister, said that Aviahu suddenly left their home on the morning of October 23rd, and it was as if the earth had swallowed him up.
She added that their mother thought he might have gone to a friend’s house to get some peace or possibly to the gathering places to help the soldiers and prepare food for them.
The newspaper revealed that after four days with no sign of life, and when his phone went off and his friends did not know his whereabouts, his relatives reported his disappearance to the police.
His sister said that he was unable to sleep at night and had an internal burning desire to help in some way. He was unable to accept the reality that he had not been called up to fight.
The report indicated that Mori bypassed military forces near Nahal Oz, an area adjacent to the Gaza perimeter, crossed the fence, and walked about half a kilometer unchallenged inside the Gaza Strip.
Upon deciding to retreat and approach the fence, he was mistakenly identified as a “terrorist” and killed in a drone strike.
This isn’t the first incident of Israelis being killed by “friendly fire.” Multiple reports have documented the deaths of Israelis within the Gaza envelope due to army gunfire, in addition to incidents within the Gaza Strip itself resulting from Israeli bombing operations that have claimed the lives of Israeli soldiers.
A report by Haaretz, published last November, noted that an Israeli helicopter opened fire on Israelis participating in a festival organized near Kibbutz “Re’im” in the Gaza envelope on October 7th.
Other Israeli media sources revealed that an Israeli tank shelled a house in the Be’eri settlement within the Gaza envelope on the same date, resulting in the death of several Israelis.
Furthermore, last week, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that since the start of the ground war in Gaza, there have been 29 fatalities among army personnel due to “friendly fire” and operational incidents.
