Israeli Air Force mishap nearly hits navy vessel off Gaza

An Israeli Air Force fighter jet, dispatched to support ground operations in the Gaza Strip, accidentally released a bomb that fell just 100 metres from the missile boat Dvora, narrowly avoiding a major disaster.

According to Israel’s Channel 12 television, the incident could have had deadly consequences but ended without casualties purely by chance.

A preliminary inquiry found that the bomb was released due to a technical malfunction in the ammunition. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced it has launched a full investigation and pledged that corrective measures would follow.

This is not the first such incident. In April, a heavy bomb fell near the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz. A local resident told the channel, “There was a powerful explosion. It could have been a great tragedy. We expect the army to draw conclusions.” At the time, the military also attributed the mishap to a technical malfunction.

A month later, another munition dropped from a helicopter near the border fence in the western Negev, again explained as a malfunction. Despite the severity of these accidents, no casualties have been reported in any of the cases.

By Tamilla Hasanova