Two IDF soldiers were killed overnight Wednesday in the crash of a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter near the Philadelphi in Rafah. The helicopter crashed during a landing on a mission to evacuate a military engineering fighter wounded by gunfire. Two of the helicopter’s passengers were killed, and seven other soldiers were evacuated with varying injuries, four severe.
The Air Force estimates that the cause of the crash was not enemy fire, but a technical malfunction or pilot’s error. Air Force Commander Colonel Tomer Bar ordered a special investigation of the incident.
Since the start of the war, IAF helicopters rescued some 2,000 IDF personnel.
There has been only one other hit of an Air Force helicopter: a Sikorsky Sea Stallion was hit on the ground by an RPG missile on October 7, 2023.
