FRIENDLY FIRE
IDF combat helicopter targeting Hamas fighters at Nova festival massacre shot some partygoers by mistake, says Haaretz
Rebecca Rommen
Updated Mon, November 20, 2023
An aerial view shows the burnt cars of festival-goers at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 12, 2023.REUTERS
The IDF mistakenly hit Nova festival attendees while aiming for Hamas militants, Haaretz reported.
A police source told the outlet that helicopter fire may have missed its mark.
Israeli officials pushed back against the report after it was published.
An Israeli police investigation into the music-festival massacre on October 7 indicates that the IDF mistakenly shot some festival attendees while firing at Hamas, a report suggested.
The alleged debacle was reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing an unnamed police source.
The source told Haaretz that their police investigation said an IDF combat helicopter fired at Hamas fighters after arriving on the scene. While targeting the perpetrators, the helicopter also hit some festivalgoers, the source said.
Business Insider reached out to Josh Breiner, the Haaretz journalist who broke this story, for comment.
After Haaretz published its report, Israel Police released a statement pushing back. It said, per The Times of Israel, that the actions of the IDF were beyond the remit of the investigation the source was speaking about.
It also asked that media outlets only report information from government officials.
364 people were killed at the festival, a third of the fatalities from Hamas militants' coordinated terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, per The Times of Israel.
Israeli security's assessment is that Hamas did not have advance knowledge of the Nova music festival next to Kibbutz Re'im, and targeted it spontaneously after infiltrating Gaza's border, Haaretz reported.
The festival was initially billed to end on Friday night and only extended to Saturday, late in the day, it said.
Approximately 3,500 people attended the psychedelic trance festival three miles away from the Gaza border, per The New York Times.
Alongside the fatalities, dozens of festival attendees were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. A video of 25-year-old Noa Argamani being hoisted onto a motorcycle by militants while calling for her boyfriend went viral on social media.
Rebecca Rommen
Updated Mon, November 20, 2023
An aerial view shows the burnt cars of festival-goers at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 12, 2023.REUTERS
The IDF mistakenly hit Nova festival attendees while aiming for Hamas militants, Haaretz reported.
A police source told the outlet that helicopter fire may have missed its mark.
Israeli officials pushed back against the report after it was published.
An Israeli police investigation into the music-festival massacre on October 7 indicates that the IDF mistakenly shot some festival attendees while firing at Hamas, a report suggested.
The alleged debacle was reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing an unnamed police source.
The source told Haaretz that their police investigation said an IDF combat helicopter fired at Hamas fighters after arriving on the scene. While targeting the perpetrators, the helicopter also hit some festivalgoers, the source said.
Business Insider reached out to Josh Breiner, the Haaretz journalist who broke this story, for comment.
After Haaretz published its report, Israel Police released a statement pushing back. It said, per The Times of Israel, that the actions of the IDF were beyond the remit of the investigation the source was speaking about.
It also asked that media outlets only report information from government officials.
364 people were killed at the festival, a third of the fatalities from Hamas militants' coordinated terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, per The Times of Israel.
Israeli security's assessment is that Hamas did not have advance knowledge of the Nova music festival next to Kibbutz Re'im, and targeted it spontaneously after infiltrating Gaza's border, Haaretz reported.
The festival was initially billed to end on Friday night and only extended to Saturday, late in the day, it said.
Approximately 3,500 people attended the psychedelic trance festival three miles away from the Gaza border, per The New York Times.
Alongside the fatalities, dozens of festival attendees were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. A video of 25-year-old Noa Argamani being hoisted onto a motorcycle by militants while calling for her boyfriend went viral on social media.
November 19, 2023
An Israeli air force attack helicopter on November 17, 2023 [JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images]
A new report revealed Saturday that an Israeli military helicopter opened fire on Palestinian gunmen but wounded Israelis participating in a festival during an October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.
The Haaretz newspaper said an Israeli security assessment was based on an investigation by police with Hamas gunmen who were arrested October 7.
Haaretz reported that the military helicopter arrived at the site of the festival and opened fire on the gunmen but also wounded several festival participants.
It said, according to the assessment, the gunmen had no prior information about the festival which was held close to the Kibbutz Re’im, near the borders with Gaza.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper also published a report on Israeli Air Force helicopters intervening in the attack carried out by Hamas from Gaza on October 7.
The newspaper reported that the Israeli forces “found it difficult to identify Hamas militants,” adding that helicopter pilots “used artillery” against civilians at the festival.
“The Hamas terrorists were instructed to slowly blend in with the crowd and not to move under any circumstances,” the newspaper said in its report.
“In this way, they tried to fool the air force into believing that those below were Israelis. This deception worked for a while, until the Apache helicopters had to break free of all restraints. The pilots found it difficult to distinguish who was a terrorist and who was an Israeli,” the report added.
READ: Hamas didn’t know about music festival in advance says Israel police
The newspaper said that “when they realised that, some of them decided to use artillery shells against the terrorists independently, without getting permission from their superiors.”
Police estimated that the number killed in the festival was 364, but did not reveal their identities.
The investigation details are contrary to the official Israeli narrative on the attack by the Palestinian resistance group which claimed Hamas gunmen slaughtered the revelers in the festival.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters crossed into Israel in a surprise operation named “Al-Aqsa Flood,” triggering an Israeli retaliatory bloody onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
Israel has killed more than 12,300 Palestinians in its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the surprise offensive by Hamas. The official Israeli death toll, meanwhile, stands at about 1,200.
Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have either been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless strikes on the besieged enclave.
An Israeli blockade has also cut Gaza off from fuel, electricity, and water supplies, and reduced aid deliveries to a trickle.
Israel has rejected growing calls for a cease-fire until the release of hostages held by Hamas.
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