21 reserve soldiers died as they tried to rig two buildings in southern Gaza with mines to perform a controlled demolition. According to the Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson, Hamas commandos fired a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG, at an Israeli tank that was deployed to protect the soldiers rigging the buildings with bombs, causing a chain reaction that led to the structures collapsing on top of the Israeli soldiers.
“At around 4 p.m., an RPG was fired by gunmen at a tank securing the forces, and simultaneously, an explosion occurred in two two-story buildings. The buildings collapsed due to this explosion, while most of the forces were inside and near them,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson. “One of the missiles apparently hit a mine, which exploded and caused the buildings to collapse with the soldiers inside them.”
The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released a statement Tuesday describing an attack that was consistent with the time and nature of the Israeli military’s description. While the IDF statement was unclear about the exact cause of the explosion inside the buildings, the Qassam Brigades said its operatives “targeted” the structure, leading to the “explosion of the [IDF’s] ammunition and engineering equipment,” “completely blowing [it] up.”
theintercept.com. |
