Two reservists killed in IDF drone explosion accident during operations in Gaza

Two IDF reservists were killed Thursday after a small explosive drone they were operating in the Gaza Strip crashed for an unknown reason and exploded shortly afterward, the military announced on Friday.

The troops were named as Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Kali, 24, from Har Halutz, and Master Sgt. (res.) Ofek Moalem, 23, from Jerusalem.

Both served in the Jerusalem Brigade’s 7007th Battalion.

According to a preliminary investigation by the military, the two soldiers had been operating first-person view (FPV) drones known as “Atalef” — Hebrew for bat — from an army post inside the military’s Gaza buffer zone in the Strip’s north.

A first drone carried out its intended mission, while a second, during takeoff, crashed inside the army post for an as-yet-unknown reason. The soldiers approached the crashed drone several minutes later, picked it up, and it then exploded, fatally wounding them, according to the initial probe.

The pair were taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, where their deaths were declared.

Amid the investigation into the cause of the crash and explosion, the military has temporarily grounded all small drones capable of carrying explosive payloads — both suicide drones and those that drop their explosives on a target. A new assessment will be held in the next few days.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has ordered the establishment of a panel of experts to investigate the deadly accident.

The team will be headed by a brigadier general from the Ground Forces, and it will “examine the circumstances of the incident in order to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future,” the army said.

Israeli forces continue to control some 60 percent of Gaza’s territory following the devastating war in the enclave, which began on October 7, 2023, with the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel.

The military has continued to carry out intermittent strikes on terror operatives, saying it is targeting violations of the ceasefire and attempts to rebuild Hamas capabilities.

After months of negotiations, Hamas agreed to the US-led Board of Peace’s disarmament plan on July 30, but its implementation has stalled amid Israel’s rejection of the proposal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the IDF will only withdraw once Hamas has been completely disarmed, rejecting the gradual and reciprocal framework envisioned in the proposal.

Board of Peace officials believe Netanyahu is refusing to cooperate ahead of the upcoming Israeli election on October 27 and acknowledge little progress is likely before then.

The war between Israel and Hamas has killed over 73,400 people in Gaza, including more than 1,330 since the October 2025 ceasefire, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave, although the toll does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

The Israeli military believes that Hamas’s overall toll is largely accurate, with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative.

The IDF says it has killed over 24,000 combatants in Gaza and another 1,200 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 479.

Hamas commander killed, Israeli civilians blocked

On Thursday, the military said a Hamas commander who held seven Israeli hostages in captivity during the war had been killed in a strike in Gaza City over the weekend.

The strike killed Mahmoud Abd al-Fattah Awad, who the military said held hostages Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Doron Steinbrecher, Naama Levy, Ziv Berman, Omri Miran, and Eitan Mor in a tunnel in Gaza City.

Recently, the Hamas commander had planned and advanced attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, and acted to restore Hamas capabilities in “violation of the ceasefire,” the military said.

The military also said troops detained several Israeli civilians who attempted to cross into the Strip.

Their motive was not immediately clear.

According to the IDF, the civilians crossed a security barrier and entered a buffer zone inside Israeli territory on the border.

Troops dispatched to the scene detained them and brought them back through the fence.

The IDF’s Gaza border fence is built several dozen meters inside Israeli territory, and the military said the Israeli civilians never entered the Strip itself.

“The IDF is focused on its defensive mission in the Gaza Strip and emphasizes that the area adjacent to the barrier is designated as a closed military zone, and entry into it is strictly prohibited. Arriving at this area endangers the safety of civilians and IDF troops operating in the area,” the military says.

There have been several instances of settler activists attempting to enter the enclave as part of an effort to establish new Jewish communities inside the territory.