Lieutenant N., who accidentally shot Major Ofek Aharon and Major Itamar Elharar, two platoon commanders from the Egoz unit, near the Nabi Musa base, will be questioned for the first time by the IDF this coming Sunday.
At first, the MPC asked to interrogate N. as early as yesterday (Thursday), but at the request of his commanders, it was decided to postpone the interrogation to next week due to his difficult mental condition.
The initial investigation conducted following the serious accident that occurred on Wednesday night, shows that the serious incident occurred not during training, but at the end, and was caused by a lack of coordination between the forces on the ground.
Major Elharar and Major Aharon, together with another platoon commander and a soldier, decided to go on a tour of the ranges in the evening to track down the possibility of weapons thieves in the area. And they came out without helmets or means of communication.
At the same time a younger officer, a team commander in the unit, also decided to go out alone to locate the thieves, and moved in the direction he thought he had seen during the day suspicious movements.
About 200 meters from the encampment, the commanders of the cruises identified a suspicious figure, and decided to move in its direction.
At this point the young officer heard a noise behind him, turned around and saw armed men with weapons drawn.
A military ambulance near the Nabi Musa base, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The young officer, who saw the weapons drawn, thought they were thieves, felt immediate danger to life and opened direct fire, without a suspicious arrest procedure. The company commanders also fired, but it has not yet been finally determined who fired first. Major Elharar and Major Aharon were killed on the spot, the additional commander of the voyage and the soldier who was with him were not injured. From the moment the mistake was identified, the fire was stopped and those present at the scene immediately called for rescue using the cell phones they had with them. Among other things, they called the neighboring armored battalion, the brigade and the MDA.
The serious problem that arises from the details of the incident is the lack of coordination between the forces and the fact that the commanders of the unit decided on their own to go into military activity regardless and without understanding the potential dangers.
The difficult questions that will need to be examined are, among other things, is going out to independent operations a norm in the special unit?
Also, why did the officers - both the cruise commanders and the crew commander - decide to go out on their own to pursue potential thieves, without coordination?
And what is the degree of supervision of the unit commander, the brigade headquarters and the division headquarters over the activities of the nut unit commanders?
Chief of Staff Kochavi, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Following the disaster, the chief of staff, Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi, announced a day of "cessation of activity" throughout the army.
In addition, a team of experts led by Maj. Gen. (Res.) Noam Tibon will be appointed to investigate the incident, in addition to the MPIZ investigation that has been opened.
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