Israel Matzav
Monday, January 10, 2011
IDF ON GAZA BORDER
Nadav Rotenberg HY"D (may God avenge his blood)
IDF soldier Nadav Rotenberg was killed by what turned out to be friendly fire near the Gaza security fence on Friday night. Fellow blogger Yehuda Berlinger's stepson was a friend of Rotenberg's, and was just 25 meters away when Rotenberg was killed.My step-son Eitan returned from patrol on Friday evening and went to sleep. He was awakened shortly after and told that militants were in the area. A sharpshooter team was dispatched, and simultaneously a group of soldiers in control of a Keshet mortar system was told to target the militants.
It's still unclear as to what caused the error: a software problem, or an input problem. I'm not sure why both a sharpshooter team and a mortar team were assigned the task. Whatever the reason, at least one shell from the Keshet fell on the sharpshooter team. Nadav Rotenberg lost his arm and leg and died a few hours later. A commander had his face blown off ("moderately wounded"), and three other Israeli soldiers were injured.
Eitan was 25 meters away from the explosion. He was among those who tried to give first aid.
Read the whole thing. Rotenberg z"l (of blessed memory) was quite a fighter.
Posted by Carl in Jerusalem at 2:13 AM
Yehoram Gaon - Ballad for the Medic. Tribute for the Heroes
