High-ranking Israeli officer killed in ‘accident possibly caused by drone’: Report

A high-ranking Israeli military officer has reportedly been killed in one of the occupying regime’s airbases in the south of Tel Aviv in what is said to be an “accident possibly caused by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).”

The revelation was made in a tweet by the son of Secretary General of Hezbollah resistance movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, late on Friday, which said the incident took place at the Tel Nof airbase and that Michel Barshet, in charge of the Israeli base’s UAV department, had been killed.

“The enemy Israeli army announced the death of Michel Barshet, who was in charge of the planning, supervision and production of the aircraft maintenance squadron at the Tel Nof airbase and claimed that he died as a result of the accident. Maybe because of the drone accident,” Sayyed Javad Nasrallah wrote.

The spokesman of the Israeli military, without mentioning the position and name of Barshet, said that a 43-year-old Israeli officer was killed as a result of a “traffic accident” near the city of Rehovot.

Kuwait’s Al-Jarida newspaper, citing unnamed Israeli authorities, said Barshet was killed in a traffic accident, with some sources claiming that it is most likely that he was “assassinated.”

Israel’s Tel Nof base is located in the city of Rehovot in the occupied territories and 35 kilometers south of Tel Aviv.

*جيش العدو الإسرائيلي يعلن مقتل ميشيل بارشت ، مسؤولة التخطيط والإشراف والإنتاج في سرب صيانة الطائرات في قاعدة تل نوف الجوية الإسرائيلية ويدعي أن نتيجة الهلاك بحادث سير.

وممكن بحادث مسيرة 🥴

— جواد نصرالله || Jawad Nasrallah (@_mjn__) February 10, 2023

The incident comes amid increased Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories, especially in the West Bank.

Israeli forces have ramped up attacks against Palestinian towns in recent months in a bid to stifle growing Palestinian resistance in occupied cities. Dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested. In January 2023 alone, at least 38 Palestinians, including five children, were killed.