JERUSALEM, March 23 (Reuters) – Israel said on Monday its own forces had misfired artillery that killed an Israeli farmer near the Lebanese frontier, the first Israeli civilian killed in a border conflict being waged in parallel with the war in Iran.
Ofer Moskovitz, 60, an avocado farmer in the town of Misgav Am, had spoken with Reuters just last week and said he was worried about the fighting at the border.
In a statement, Major General Rafi Milo, who heads the military’s northern command, said: “Moskovitz was killed by our own forces’ fire during an operation whose entire purpose was to protect them.”
The military had initially blamed cross-border fire from Lebanon when it first reported the incident on Sunday.
Israel has launched a major ground assault and air campaign into Lebanon to root out Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed militia, which fired into Israel in support of Tehran two days after the start of the Israeli-U.S. air attacks on Iran.
Lebanese authorities say more than a thousand people have been killed and more than a million driven from their homes in Lebanon. The death of Moskovitz was the first reported in Israel. The military says two Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat.
“Every five minutes you can hear the bombs,” Moskovitz told Reuters last week.
The military’s statement said troops had opened fire to support soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, but “severe issues and operational errors” had taken place.
“The artillery fire was carried out at an incorrect angle and did not follow required protocols,” it said. “As a result, five artillery shells were fired at the Misgav Am ridge instead of toward the enemy target.”
(Reporting by Steven Scheer and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Toby Chopra and Peter Graff)
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