IDF: Israeli soldier killed by friendly fire in Gaza

An IDF soldier was killed overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday in a friendly fire incident, the military said on Wednesday morning.

St.-Sgt. Ofri Yafe, 21 years old, served as a fighter in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit. He was originally from Kibbutz Megiddo in northern Israel. 

According to Israeli media, Yafe was hit by friendly fire during a nighttime operation by paratrooper forces in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza on Tuesday night. He was reportedly critically injured and was taken to receive medical treatment before he was later pronounced dead.

The military is investigating the incident are still being investigated, and his family has been notified.

He leaves behind his parents, Hadas and Yiftach, and three younger brothers, Noy, Tzuf, and Itamar.

“We are shocked by the tragedy and cannot digest the loss of Ofri, our beloved son. This is incomprehensible,” the Yafe family wrote.

Kibbutz Megiddo, where Yafe was raised, eulogized him as a “a lively young man, surrounded by friends, and deeply loved.”

“Ofri grew up in Kibbutz Megiddo and studied at Megiddo High School, surrounded by a loving family and friends. He was a young man of values, raised to give and to show courage, with his whole future ahead of him. Our hearts are broken,” said Head of the Megiddo Regional Council, Gil Lin.

“Our hearts are broken with the fall of Ofri, a son of our valley. A brave young man, full of life and values, who chose to serve and contribute to the state out of a sense of mission and love of the land,” said Jezreel Valley council head Shlomit Shihor Reichman.

“Today, the Jezreel Valley embraces the Yafe family and the entire HaYogev community. The pain is unbearable, and we stand beside the family in their difficult hour. The entire Jezreel Valley is united in mourning and sorrow.”

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.