Discovery of an Incident That Almost Cost the Lives of 5 Israeli Soldiers by Mistake in Nablus

Translation by SadaNews - The Israeli army radio revealed on Thursday evening an incident that nearly resulted in the death of 5 Israeli soldiers from gunfire by other soldiers during a military operation in the old city of Nablus.

The radio described the event, as translated by SadaNews, as a "serious disaster" that almost claimed the lives of the five soldiers from the elite unit "Duvdevan," after they were mistakenly identified as armed Palestinian militants during a special operation to arrest wanted individuals in the old city.

The radio indicated that heavy gunfire was directed at the five soldiers, and at the last moment, they were miraculously saved.

The incident occurred early last Sunday when forces from two brigades were operating in the area, and each force was tasked with arresting a wanted individual at a different location. The forces were divided into specific areas, and soldiers from one unit mistakenly navigated into the boundaries of the second brigade's area.

A drone operating in the area spotted these five soldiers and reported their location on the roof of a building they had mistakenly reached, believing them to be armed Palestinian militants. Heavy fire was opened on them, prompting the soldiers to take cover by lying on the ground.

The Israeli army radio, as translated by SadaNews, confirmed that the gunfire was very close to the soldiers, as they were only seconds away from being hit or killed, before they shouted over the radio communication that they were under fire, while the second brigade was considering deploying a suicide drone towards them, before the decision was cancelled at the last moment after they suspected they could be soldiers.

The radio stated that the incident nearly ended with the deaths of the five elite unit soldiers due to a serious coordination failure between the forces, and that a disaster was avoided at the last moment from targeting them with a suicide drone that would not have left them a chance to survive.

An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed the occurrence of the incident, stating that lessons will be learned.