Israeli Tank Crushes Soldiers’ Cars With Friendly-fire Deaths Spike

• CrossFireArabia
• June 8, 2024

An Israeli tank ran over vehicles belonging to reserve soldiers in the car park of the Karem Abu Salem crossing-point. If this points to anything, it shows the growing nervousness of the Israeli soldiers, especially since this accident occurred on the Israeli side of the crossing point going into the Gaza Strip.

The incident has been reported by Israel’s Channel 12, Friday, and is trending on the social media. The tank crushed the vehicles completely as reported by the Jerusalem Post showing a photo of the vehicles at the scene.

Brigadier General Elias Hanna of Al Jazeera says this is a minor incident compared to the Israeli soldiers who have been killed by friendly-fire since the war on Gaza started after 7 October.

He said on Al Jazeera satellite channel since the Israeli troop deployment on the streets of Gaza, at least 46 soldiers were reported killed in friendly-fire accidents in the terrain of Gaza.

This number of friendly fire accidents maybe deliberately under-reported by Israeli army sensors. These accidents shows the seriousness of the problem coming weeks after when five soldiers were killed by their own fire in Jabalia in north Gaza while battling Hamas and Palestinian resistance fighters.

Bloggers on the social media say the number of Israeli soldiers increased to at least 50. One blogger says the soldiers “are killing their own by mistake,” and such fatal shooting is “mostly because of unpreparedness and shooting out of fear” as newly reserved soldiers have “neither the experience nor the balls.”

Another points to the fact, with the figures up till 30 May that “almost one in five soldiers are shot by their own side.”

He may have been quoting an earlier article from NPR and written last January, that’s four months into the war on Gaza, that nearly one fifth of Israeli soldiers’ deaths in Gaza related to “friendly-fire accidents, accounting for 36 of the 188 soldiers killed” then with experts saying this is “one of the highest such percentages in recent military history.”

Experts quoted by NPR suggests that the high friendly-fire deaths relate to the “urban combat” and “highly-dense area” of Gaza coupled, the “very loose rule of engagement” adopted by the Israeli army, the lack of experience of Israeli reserves fighting in urban combat and the fact that many soldiers fighting in Gaza are from their late teens to their young 20s.

These factors increase friendly-fire accidents, particularly in this war and with the political leaders breathing down the army these soldiers have had very little training, especially in combat areas like Gaza.

The result of such deaths increased the funerals and mourners in Israel with many Jews increasingly opposed to the war and with 100s of Jewish parents writing to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to excuse their sons from serving in Gaza.

The figures of those injured in friendly fire accidents are under-reported still but theses may cause alarm as the Jabalia case shows when seven other soldiers were also injured with the five killed.

UNICEF: 9 out of 10 Children in Gaza Go Hungry

• CrossFireArabia
• June 6, 2024

Nine out of 10 children in Gaza suffer from sever malnutrition according to UNICEF. The malnutrition manifested itself after the 7 October, 2023 war when Israel promised it would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza denying the 2.2 million population electricity, food, water and fuel.

“Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 have consistently found that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing sever food poverty, surviving on two or fewer fewer group per day,” a UNICEF report quoted by Palestinian news agency Wafa.

UNICEF added months of agression – this is the start of the nine month of war that Israel waged on Gaza – has resulted in the complete destitution and displacement of people who are being forced to move from one area to another in the enclave as their houses are being bombed.

To meet the minimum level of dietary diversity for healthy development, “children must consume foods from at least 5 of the 8 food groups determined by the dietary diversity score used by UNICEF and WHO,” as pointed out in Al Jazeera.  

The hunger and malnutrition is being exacerbated by the intence bombing the Gaza Strip has been subjected to in this war that saw Israel drop 70,000 tons of explosives on the enclave.

Tel Aviv’s “indiscriminate attacks” on Palestinian children and women are “clearly Israeli war crimes,” said the head of a Norwegian non-governmental organization, as quoted by the Anadolu Turkish news agency.

“It is obscene to continue waging war through refugee camps. Even if Hamas committed the war crime of hiding fighters among displaced civilians, these continued, indiscriminate attacks killing scores of children and women are clearly Israeli war crimes, he said on the X platform.

His comments came after at least 39 displaced Palestinians were killed, Thursday, in Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering thousands of displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the central Gaza Strip, according to Gaza authorities.

Mass Fires in Israel Brought Under Control

• CrossFireArabia
• June 3, 2024

North Israel is burning with more than 15 fires going on at the same time. However, it would be an understatement to count them for the horizons of these northern areas are covered with flames and smoke.

Set alight by Hezbollah rockets launched from southern Lebanon, some of which through drones, thousands of acres are burning.

The fires have started, Sunday and have continued all through Monday night, going into Tuesday morning with teams of Israeli firefighters battling the raging flames but to no avail.

These fires are being described as apocalyptic and never seen before.

Videoclips are trending on the X platform showing the extent of the raging flames. All video clips show the rage in the fires that see no end as long as rockets keep coming to the northern Galilee.

Some of the worst hit areas is the settlement of Kiryat Shmona where thousands of Israelis are fleeing their homes.  It is reported six firemen were injured trying to control the flames here. The settlement, situated in northeastern occupied Palestine, had a population of 24,000 settlers.

Many of these were evacuated in the past eight months because of the constant targeting by Hezbollah rockets. Only 4000 remained but now and with the raging fires, these Israeli settlers are being evacuated quickly.

One blogger pointed out that 12 to 13 kilometers of the Galilee and Kiryat Shmona belt are burning despite fire crews who are working round-the-clock to put the fires out.

Israel’s Iron Dome is unable to deflect the incoming rockets from southern Lebanon as they are being launched in bundles and firemen are unable to put the fires out because of the wind changes.

The Israeli authorities say that after 48 hours they brought the fires under control.