Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy conducted a preliminary field investigation following the killing of 21 officers and soldiers yesterday, Monday, in what was described as the most difficult day for Israel since the start of its war on Gaza.
The preliminary investigation showed that a group of Palestinian fighters fired RPG shells at two buildings located east of the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip after an Israeli force booby-trapped them with explosive materials.
According to the investigation, the two targeted buildings – with Israeli officers and soldiers inside them – collapsed as a result of explosives planted by the force.
Palestinian fighters also fired a shell at an Israeli tank adjacent to the two buildings, killing two soldiers inside.
The investigation indicated that the fighters suddenly appeared from the fields and approached a distance of dozens of meters, and they were able to escape after firing the shells.
Long battle
The Israeli Chief of Staff said in a televised statement – after his visit to the attack site east of the Maghazi camp – that their forces are still fighting and that the battle will be long, indicating that the army “will need reserve forces again.”
Halevy stated that the soldiers fell during what he described as a defensive operation in the area separating Israeli towns and the Gaza Strip.
He added that the operation was aimed “to create security conditions for the residents of the Gaza envelope area to return to their homes safely.”
He stressed that the Israeli army will conduct “an in-depth investigation and will draw lessons from it so that such an incident will not be repeated,” as he put it.
Compound process
On the other hand, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that what happened east of al-Maghazi camp yesterday was a “complex operation” carried out by its fighters.
Al-Qassam explained that a house in which an Israeli engineering force was holed up was targeted with an anti-personnel missile, which led to the explosion of the ammunition and engineering equipment in its possession, completely blowing up the house.
At the same time, the fighters destroyed – with an Al-Yassin 105 shell – a Merkava tank that was securing the force, and they also detonated a minefield with another Israeli force that was in the same place, which led to all of them being killed or wounded, according to Al-Qassam, which also indicated that its fighters were able to withdraw safely.