A team of Israeli military experts has been appointed by IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi to investigate operational discipline within the IDF following an incident in which a 71-year-old Israeli citizen and a soldier were killed during a gunfire exchange with Hezbollah members.
The bloody incident occurred in southern Lebanon, where the 71-year-old, accompanied by a senior IDF officer, entered without the necessary military approvals.
According to the update, the investigation ordered by Halevi “will provide a detailed picture of the situation regarding the maintenance of operational discipline, orders and procedures of the military, codes of conduct, and the rules applied within the army’s units on the two main battlefronts in the north and south.”
The investigation will begin today, and the team is expected to present its findings to Halevi within two weeks.
According to the initial IDF report on the incident, the head of the Golani Brigade’s staff, Colonel Yoav Yarom, permitted the 71-year-old Israeli researcher Zeev Erlich to enter the western sector of southern Lebanon to examine an archaeological site – an ancient fortress – where he fell into an ambush set up by Hezbollah members. A 20-year-old sergeant from the 13th battalion of the Golani Brigade was also killed in the incident.
