Friendly fire deaths as fights break out in Gaza capital

[bemildred]

Israeli troops and Hamas militants fought their first major battles in Gaza City on Monday after tanks and helicopters launched a night-time offensive, with three Israelis killed by "friendly" fire.

Explosions and heavy machine-gun fire rocked the Shejaiya district of the city in the heaviest fighting yet of Israel's campaign to halt militant rocket attacks.

The army said three soldiers from the elite Golani Brigade were killed and 24 wounded in northern Gaza when their position was accidentally hit by Israeli tank fire. The brigade commander, Colonel Avi Peled, was lightly injured.

The Israei military would not say exactly where the incident occurred, but an AFP correspondent quoted witnesses as saying it was in Shejaiya.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/friendly-fire-deaths-as-fights-break-out-in-gaza-capital/2009/01/06/1231003991442.html

[bemildred]

1. ANALYSIS / The price of stubbornness over Gaza exit is dead soldiers

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Ashkenazi had said in earlier discussions that use of major fire power would be inevitable even in the most densly populated areas. The Israeli solution was thus to be very aggressive to protect the lives of the soldiers as much as possible.

These are 'Georgia rules,' which are not so far from the methods Russia used in its conflict last summer. The result is the killing of dozens of non-combatant Palestinians. The Gaza medical teams might not have reached all of them yet.

When an Israeli force gets into an entanglement, as in Sajaiyeh last night, massive fire into built-up areas is initiated to cover the extraction. In other cases, a chain of explosions is initiated from a distance to set off Hamas booby-traps. It is a method that leaves a swath of destruction taking in entire streets, and does not distinguish military targets from the homes of civilians.

From Hamas' perspective, the Sajaiyeh incident that left 3 IDF troops dead Monday is a significant first achievement. For the first time, Israeli TV broadcasts raised the question of whether it was worthwhile for the operation to continue.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053121.html

[Arrowhead2k1]

2. When you shoot first, ask questions later, this is the kind of thing that can happen.

Same reason why there are scores of dead children right now.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. The soldiers ran into a house for cover. The 'errant' shell fell on the house.

[HeraldSquare212]

4. The number killed by friendly fire exceeds the number killed by rockets

since the attacks by Israel began, leading to the logically irrefutable proposition that Israel should be bombing Israel.

[Recursion]

5. Ugh. The IDF is better at killing Israelis than Hamas

This is so awful in so many ways, and will get out of control very quickly :(