The occupation army admits that 9 soldiers were killed and injured in a helicopter crash in Gaza

The Israeli army admitted on Wednesday that two soldiers were killed and seven others were injured, four of them seriously, when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a mission to rescue an injured soldier in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, in the first fatal crash of this type of aircraft in 30 years.

The occupation army announced the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances of the incident, noting that initial information indicates that the helicopter crash was not the result of enemy fire, but rather the result of human or technical error, according to its description.

The army confirmed that the incident did not affect the ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Walla website said that the crash of the Black Hawk helicopter in Gaza is the first fatal accident after 30 years of service of this type of helicopter in the Israeli army.

The website added that the Black Hawk helicopter forms the backbone of the Israeli army's transport and rescue helicopters, noting that it is capable of carrying 14 to 22 soldiers.

Accident details

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the helicopter crash resulted in the critical injury of a female officer, three seriously injured soldiers, and four moderately injured, including the soldier who was supposed to be rescued.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that the helicopter was on its way to rescue a soldier who was shot by a Palestinian sniper.

The newspaper explained that the helicopter arrived to evacuate the injured soldier after midnight, explaining that in the final stage of the landing, the helicopter hit the ground near the Philadelphia axis, and crashed for an unknown reason.

The newspaper indicated that 4 helicopters evacuated the injured soldiers, in an operation that lasted for hours early this morning.

She confirmed that the Israeli army has currently stopped using Black Hawk helicopters until the cause of the malfunction that led to the accident is known, noting that rescue operations will continue using other types of helicopters.

For its part, Israeli Channel 14 said that the helicopter crash was difficult and required a complex rescue operation for the victims, adding that the commander of the Givati Brigade arrived with other senior commanders in the brigade to help rescue the wounded.

First of its kind

The newspaper quoted the Israeli army as saying that the helicopter crash was the first incident of its kind since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, but it was not the first incident of damage to a helicopter.

She added that on October 7, a Yasir helicopter caught fire while landing soldiers near Kibbutz Alumim in the Gaza Strip after being hit by fire from Qassam Brigades fighters.

She reported that other helicopters had been hit in recent months by Palestinian fighters' fire, without the incidents killing Israeli pilots.

Source: Al Jazeera