IDF Disciplines Officers in Deadly Friendly Fire Incident

Several officers of the IDF’s elite Egoz Unit are facing severe disciplinary action in the wake of a friendly-fire incident in which two soldiers were killed last month.

Maj. Ofek Aharon, 28, and Maj. Itamar Elharar, 26, were killed on January 12 when the patrol they were in came across an officer who mistook them for terrorists.

The deputy commander will be removed from his position and barred from command positions for the next two years, and the head of the unit will be barred from command positions after finishing his term.

A number of junior officers are also being removed from their posts and barred for two years for their role in the incident, which occurred as members of the unit conducted an impromptu search for night vision equipment that had been stolen the day before, the military said.

The unit commander reportedly offered his resignation, but IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi refused to accept it. Kohavi said, however, that “this is a very serious incident that could and should have been prevented,” but which occurred “due to professional deficiencies” and “a serious mistake in discretion.”

The investigation into their deaths found that the unit had a “culture of failing to report and investigate [incidents],” that the officers involved showed “no common sense,” and set out on the patrol without planning, but with their guns loaded, in violation of IDF protocol and IDF values, according to the head of the probe, Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon.