No one indicted for death of IDF officer in training drill
After Yishai Rosales was killed in 2016 during a training exercise when soldiers accidentally fired a mortar shell in the wrong direction, no indictments have been issued and a disciplinary hearing is the harshest measure taken in the case.
Rosales, from the Kfir Brigade, was killed when a force from the 75th Battalion of the 7th Armored Corps Division inadvertently fired a mortar shell in the wrong direction.
One of the officers is a commander at the Fire Training Center while the other is a commander in the 75th Battalion of the 7th Armored Corps Division. In addition, two combat soldiers were dismissed for failing to operating the mortar shells as required.
A deputy battalion commander was also reprimanded for the incident. The deputy commander of the 75th Battalion and the platoon’s deputy company commander were also removed from their positions.
The aforementioned officers will be arraigned by more senior-ranked officers for a number of offences including failure to comply with orders. However, their punishment is not expected to be too severe.
One of the senior officers involved in the incident, a colonel, continues to serve in the IDF but was assigned a different job.
The investigation revealed that the infantry force in the exercise that fired the mortar shells accidentally entered data that caused the shell to fire about 800 meters in the wrong direction.
A group of officers were also standing in the same area where the shell exploded, one of whom was Lt. Rosales from the Netzah Yehuda battalion. Rosales died of shrapnel wounds which he suffered to his upper body.
