<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" lang="en" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israel-admits-immense-amount-friendly-fire-7-october">electronicintifada.net</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel admits to "immense" amount of "friendly fire" on 7 October</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits"></div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">
<p class="gmail-node__submitted">
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-author"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/asa-winstanley">Asa Winstanley</a></span>
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-blog"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blog/rights-and-accountability">Rights and Accountability</a></span>
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-publication-date"><span class="gmail-date-display-single">12 December 2023</span></span> </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-content" role="main">
<span>
<img src="https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2023-12/supernova-cars.jpg?itok=MWT0r-MO×tamp=1702423608" width="440" height="284" alt="Destroyed cars in a field" title="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">
</span>
<p>Drone footage released by the Israeli military last month shows the
extent of the destruction of the cars fleeing the Supernova rave on 7
October, likely inflicted by Israeli drones and helicopters. (<a href="https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1721633558639550937">RT/Israeli military</a>)</p>
<p>Israel’s army on Tuesday admitted that an “immense and complex
quantity” of what it calls “friendly fire” incidents took place on 7
October.</p>
<p>The key declaration was buried in the penultimate paragraph of <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkjqoobip">an article by Yoav Zitun</a>, the military correspondent of Israeli outlet <em>Ynet</em>.</p>
<p>It is the first known official army admission that a significant
number of the hundreds of Israelis who died on 7 October were killed by
Israel itself, and not by Hamas or other Palestinian resistance
factions.</p>
<p>An Israeli police source last month <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-helicopter-shot-civilians-7-october-rave-police-find">appeared to admit</a>
that some of the Israelis at the Supernova rave taking place near Gaza
that day were hit by Israeli helicopters. A second police source later <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-police-slams-haaretz-claim-idf-helicopter-may-have-harmed-civilians-on-oct-7/">partially walked back</a> the admission.</p>
<p>Citing new data released by the Israeli military, Zeitun wrote that:
“Casualties fell as a result of friendly fire on October 7, but the IDF
[Israeli military] believes that … it would not be morally sound to
investigate” them.</p>
<p>He reported that this was “due to the immense and complex quantity of
them that took place in the kibbutzim and southern Israeli
communities.”</p>
<p>The <em>Ynet</em> article also reported that “at least” one fifth of
the Israeli army deaths in Gaza since the ground invasion began were
also due to “friendly fire” incidents.
</p><div id="gmail-file-147136">
<p>
</p>
</div>
Israel has in recent weeks faced increased internal pressure to investigate the failings of 7 October.
<p>On Monday in Tel Aviv, family members of those Israelis who died on 7 October <a href="https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/local/article/14936727">established a new group</a> calling for an <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/alleging-government-mishandling-families-of-rave-massacre-victims-demand-answers/">official Israeli government investigation</a> into the events of that day.</p>
<p>One of the speakers accused the government of a “cover-up.”</p>
<p>Israel does indeed appear to be covering up a lot of the evidence.</p>
<p><em>The Jerusalem Post</em> <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-774511">reported recently</a>
that cars containing the blood stains or ashes of Israelis who died on 7
October would be crushed and – in what the paper said was a first –
buried in a cemetery.</p>
<p>The paper provided a religious pretext for all this. Nonetheless,
this is a worrying development which amounts to a state-sanctioned
coverup of what could potentially be some of the most important forensic
evidence from 7 October.</p>
<p>Since that day, there has been a <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/evidence-israel-killed-its-own-citizens-7-october/41156">steadily growing mountain of evidence</a> that many – if not most – Israelis killed that day were killed by Israel itself.</p>
<p>This evidence has been reported in English almost entirely by independent media, including The Electronic Intifada, <em>The Grayzone</em>, <em>The Cradle</em> and <em>Mondoweiss</em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/we-blew-israeli-houses-7-october-says-israeli-colonel">In one of the most recent revelations</a>,
an Israeli air force colonel admitted to a Hebrew podcast that they
blew up Israeli homes in the settlements but insisted they never did so
“without permission.”</p>
<p>Colonel Nof Erez also said that 7 October was a “mass Hannibal” event
– a reference to a controversial Israeli military doctrine.</p>
<p>Named after an ancient Carthaginian general who poisoned himself rather than be captured alive, <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hannibal-directive">the Hannibal Directive</a>
allows Israeli forces to take any means necessary to stop Israelis
being captured alive – even at the cost of killing the captives.</p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>