The IDF reported on 12 January that four soldiers were wounded, one seriously. The troops were part of a paratrooper unit that was operating in northern Gaza. The military said they launched an inquiry whether this incident was caused by friendly fire. According to previous reports friendly fire has so far killed four soldiers in separate incidents on 5 January. Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade, claimed to have destroyed two Israeli tanks in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitun, and that they killed many soldiers in the town of Khuz'a, near the Israeli border. The Israeli army refuted these claims.
