The Israeli military said Wednesday that an army helicopter crashed in the south of war-ravaged Gaza overnight, killing two soldiers and injuring seven.
“An initial inquiry… indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire… Two IDF (Israeli) soldiers were killed as a result of the crash,” the military said in a statement, adding that the seven injured had been evacuated to hospital for treatment.
The military said it was investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred when the helicopter was landing near the southern city of Rafah.
The latest deaths bring the military’s losses in the Gaza campaign to 344 since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.
The war erupted after Hamas operatives attacked southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which also include hostages killed in captivity.
During the attack, Hamas operatives abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,020 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
The United Nations human rights office says most of the dead in Gaza are women and children.
