By STEVEN ERLANGER The New York Times JERUSALEM — An embarrassed Israeli military confirmed Sunday that a soldier from an elite brigade was left behind by his comrades in the Gaza Strip last week, and that he was extricated only after they had returned to base.
Even worse, said the Israeli news service Ynet, which broke the story, his comrades had answered for him during a verbal head count before they returned to Israel. The soldier had fallen asleep during a rest break about 700 yards inside Gaza as the Israelis were returning from an incursion near Khan Yunis.
When the soldier awoke, he became frightened, fired tracer bullets into the air and waved a fluorescent lightstick to identify himself. Other soldiers then went to get him.
But the events, which are likely to result in severe disciplinary measures, were particularly upsetting to Israelis, who have been trying to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured a year ago June in an operation led by the militant group Hamas.
That soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was taken on a Palestinian raid inside Israel. The Israelis have been unable to locate where he is being held, presumably inside Gaza, and have been negotiating with Hamas about a major prisoner swap to get him back.
Another captive Israeli soldier, as a result of what seems to have been an act of negligence, would have shocked the country. As it is, this episode is causing waves, since 10 soldiers from the same battalion of the elite Golani Brigade abandoned a post on the Gaza border last week to protest what they saw as inadequate conditions. Those soldiers were jailed.
The current Israeli chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, is from the Golani Brigade, and his appointment was meant to show the important place of the infantry after the resignation of Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, an air force man, after last summer's war against Hezbollah.