JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Citing a string of “serious incidents” that resulted in soldiers’ deaths and accidental shootings, Israel’s Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir on Sunday instructed a temporary halt to all military training exercises, lasting a day but possibly longer, public broadcaster KAN reported.

The incidents, which occurred over recent weeks, involved soldier fatalities and ammunition mishaps, with a focus on prioritizing troop safety.

Among the accidents were an unintended burst of machine gun fire inside a Namer armored vehicle and a military vehicle striking a landmine, the broadcaster noted.

Other incidents included a troop carrier overturning in a water channel, a soldier falling into a well, and multiple cases of errant shelling and gunfire.

Army leadership said the training suspension will last at least through Monday, aiming to “bolster safety protocols to protect soldiers’ lives, particularly amid ongoing wartime,” the broadcaster said.

The decision comes as more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.