The helicopter was reportedly dispatched to evacuate a soldier who had been shot by a Palestinian sniper.
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that two soldiers were killed and seven others were injured, four of them seriously, in a Black Hawk helicopter crash during a mission to rescue a wounded soldier in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli news website Walla, this is the first deadly accident involving a Black Hawk helicopter in 30 years.
The Black Hawk is a key transport and rescue aircraft for the Israeli military, capable of carrying between 14 to 22 soldiers.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the crash left an officer critically injured, three soldiers with serious injuries, and four others moderately injured.
The helicopter was reportedly dispatched to evacuate a soldier who had been shot by a Palestinian sniper.
According to the Israeli account, the helicopter reached the scene after midnight, but during the final phase of its landing, it crashed near the Philadelphi route for reasons yet to be determined.
ISRAELI ARMY: Two soldiers were killed in a military plane crash in Gaza.
CHANNEL 14: A Black Hawk helicopter approached the ground to evacuate a person with a gunshot wound in Rafah, and crashed for an unknown reason.
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: An officer was critically injured, 3… pic.twitter.com/olbUbsTa30
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) September 11, 2024
The army has reportedly launched an investigation to determine the cause of the incident. Initial findings suggest that the crash was likely due to human or technical error, rather than enemy fire, according to the official Israeli version.
The Israeli army has since grounded its fleet of Black Hawk helicopters pending the results of the investigation into the cause of the malfunction. However, rescue operations will continue using other types of helicopters.
Israeli Channel 14 described the crash as severe and requiring a complex rescue effort for the victims.
Four additional helicopters were involved in the evacuation of the injured soldiers in an operation that took several hours early Wednesday morning.
The commander of the Givati Brigade and other senior officers reportedly arrived at the scene to assist in the operation.
The crash marks the first helicopter incident since the start of the war in Gaza, though it is not the first instance of damage to a helicopter.
On October 7, a Yasir helicopter caught fire after being hit by fire from Al-Qassam Brigades fighters while landing soldiers near Kibbutz Alumim in Gaza.
Other helicopters have also come under fire in recent months, but without fatalities among Israeli pilots.
⚡️A rescue israeli helicopter was shot down in Gaza, resulting in a large number of dead and wounded Israeli terrorist soldiers
resistance forces claimed they downed it. #IDF is claiming this was due to "technical failures"
#Hamas #Hezbollah#Iran #Israel #Netanyahu pic.twitter.com/UrfcYjnWOE
— Ahmad Basra (@ChAhmadBasra) September 11, 2024
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,020 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,925 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, AJA)
Destroying Israel’s airpower is the only way completely defeat these psychotic monsters. It would be great news if the resistance used a manpad to down this helicopter.