The Israeli army issued a statement today, Friday, admitting the accidental killing of Efrat Katz (68 years old) by fire from an Israeli helicopter targeting a vehicle driven by Hamas militants on October 7. The army's statement read: "It appears that during the fighting and airstrikes, one of the combat helicopters that participated in the conflict fired at a car containing terrorists, which also, according to testimonies, had hostages inside."
"As a result of the gunfire, most of the militants inside the vehicle were killed, and it is likely that Efrat Katz was also killed." Katz's body was retrieved to Gaza along with the other hostages, which currently number 134, both alive and deceased. According to the investigation, monitoring systems could not identify the presence of hostages in that vehicle. The statement noted that the air force commander "found no fault in the operation carried out by the helicopter crew, who acted according to orders in a complex wartime reality."
Efrat's daughter, Doron Asher Katz, along with her two young daughters, Raz (4 years) and Aviv (2 years), were taken hostage but were released in a hostage deal in November. More than 7 weeks after October 7, the Israeli army announced that Efrat's son, Ravid Katz, and her brother Doron were killed, while Efrat's husband, Gadi Moses, from Kibbutz Niry Oz, remains held by Hamas, according to the official broadcasting agency.
