An initial investigation of the disaster found that a force made of infantry, the engineering corps and the armored corps arrived on Monday morning for the task of clearing the area in the buffer strip that the Gaza Division is establishing these days.
Engineering forces were booby trapping ten two-story buildings located a little more than half a kilometer from the Gazan side of the border as others were securing the activity. At around 4:00 p.m., a terrorist approached the scene after coming out of a tunnel shaft and fired an RPG type missile at a tank that secured the operation. Two soldiers were killed and two were wounded.
At the same time, an anti-tank missile was fired at two building where dozens of soldiers were staying. According to estimates, the explosion of the missile in the building caused the trap to explode and the buildings to collapse on the soldiers.
The commander of the southern brigade of the Gaza Division, Lt. Col. Tal Ashur, who commanded over the operation, called in military rescue forces in large numbers, and the rescue operations lasted for many hours.
