Israeli fighter jet accidentally drops bomb near Gaza border settlement: Army

JERUSALEM

An Israeli fighter jet accidentally dropped a bomb near the Nir Yitzhak settlement on the border with Gaza on Tuesday due to a “technical malfunction” while en route to strike targets in the enclave, the Israeli military said.

It said the munition fell in an open area near the settlement, adding that no injuries occurred and an investigation is underway.

Local residents told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily they did not notice anything unusual as they are accustomed to hearing frequent explosions from military activity in Gaza. They heard a blast, but it raised no suspicions.

It was not the first such incident since Israel’s genocide on Gaza began. In June 2024, a tank shell aimed at Gaza veered off course and landed in Israeli territory near the border fence.

A month earlier, a 500-kilogram bomb dropped by an F-15 fighter jet was found unexploded among homes in Moshav Yated in the Eshkol region, an event the military called “exceptional, rare and dangerous.”

The Israeli army renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

At least 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.