An Israeli soldier has been tragically shot dead following a friendly fire incident in Tulkram, east of Netanya, Israel, tonight.
The IDF soldier killed has been identified as Staff Sgt. Nathan Fitusi, 20, of the Kfir Brigade.
According to a report by Kan, two soldiers were guarding a post when one solider left temporarily and when he returned the still-guarding soldier mistook him for an armed adversary and fired two shots, tragically killing him.
????BDE: An Israeli soldier has been shot dead following a friendly fire incident in Tulkram, Israel, tonight. pic.twitter.com/B4qENT8hql
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The IDF’s Chief of Staff is expected to visit the site of the incident as part of the investigation being conducted by the IDF.
The incident was initially reported as terrorist attack that was apparently carried out from a passing vehicle and that the security forces were hunting for the shooters – but later an IDF spokesman updated that it was an IDF shooting.
A senior IDF official said: “Unfortunately, the fighter died of his wounds in the hospital”.
“As far as I understand, the soldier was hit by two bullets and one of them being fatal. At first they thought it was fired from the Palestinian side, but we later ruled out the suspicion of an attack and are investigating this as a friendly fire incident”.
