Israel's recent announcement that friendly fire was the cause of the deaths of nearly a fifth of all its soldiers in the war in Gaza was described as a high percentage even for fighting in crowded civilian areas.

The NBC News website stated that since they began their war on Gaza, the Israelis have killed 36 out of a total of 210 soldiers due to friendly fire and accidents, and it quoted experts as saying that this percentage is the highest in modern military history.

The Israeli army had published a list of the names of 557 soldiers and officers, including reserve soldiers, many of whom were said to be local security officers, who were killed during the ongoing war waged by the Israeli army on Gaza since October 7.

Of this number of deaths, it was reported that most of them occurred on the border with the Gaza Strip, in addition to the killing of 220 soldiers during the ground attack inside Gaza.

The American news network reported that the “friendly fire” that killed the Israeli soldiers consisted of “air strikes and fragments of Israeli explosives. Some of them were run over by armored vehicles or were mistakenly identified, and they were hit by tank fire, shelling, and artillery.” This is according to a report issued by the Israeli army earlier. This month, there were also casualties, as Israel fought its most complex war, with 2 million Palestinian civilians and tens of thousands of soldiers crammed into the small coastal enclave of Gaza.

Retired American General Sean McFarland found justification for the Israelis by saying that there are no procedural steps that would reduce this type of casualties, adding that fighting in cities actually deprives any force of many of the technological advantages it possesses, adding that “fighting inside buildings is very difficult.” .

As for James Stavridis, a retired admiral in the US Navy, he made excuses to the Israeli army for the death of such a large number of its soldiers by “friendly fire” in this ongoing war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has so far caused the death of 26,637 Palestinians, including more than 10,400 children. And more than 7,100 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.

Stavridis saw that Israel did not have time to prepare and train the invading force that was to be sent to Gaza, noting at the same time that "the key to avoiding friendly fire is to ensure communication between the various units - infantry, tanks, aircraft and artillery - operating within the narrow borders of Gaza."

The retired American admiral alluded to the behavior of the Israeli soldiers during the ongoing fighting in Gaza, and their random shooting, by advising senior Israeli officers on the ground that they must “constantly remind the forces not to rush during the fighting.”

An Israeli army spokesman, in answering a question about friendly fire killing rates in the ongoing war in Gaza, described the phenomenon as “a terrible thing.”