06/01/2009 01:18 JERUSALEM, Jan 6 (AFP)

Three soldiers from the Israeli army's elite Golani Brigade were killed and 24 wounded in northern Gaza on Monday night when they were accidentally hit by Israeli tank fire, an army spokesman said.

"Three IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers were killed and one critically wounded and an additional three were severely wounded as the result of a tank shell explosion that was fired in error from an IDF tank during an operation" in northern Gaza, the spokesman said.

"The tank shell hit a structure where the soldiers were located. Twenty additional soldiers were lightly to moderately wounded in the same incident."

Among those lightly wounded during what was said to be heavy fighting was brigade commander Colonel Avi Peled, who directed evacuation efforts before being pulled out of the area.

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