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Israel army reservists called up by mistake

April 19, 2018 at 11:51 am

Israeli army reservists “received an emergency message calling them to duty early Thursday”, only to find out “shortly later the message had been a mistake”, reported AFP.

According to the report, “a military spokesman confirmed the mistaken call to duty, but declined to provide further details, including how many reservists received the message”.

The Israeli military told the media that the message was issued by an automated system by accident and “was very quickly resolved”.

Israeli media published images of the text message calling up the reservists which said “emergency call up has been activated”, said AFP.

“You are to report immediately to the meeting place,” the message said. “Reminder, you are to bring your protection kit and your military kit.” Another message was sent shortly later “cancelling it and explaining that the call up had been an error”, the reports said.

Ynet quoted the Israeli army as stating: “Due to an error, an automatic message went out to reservists. We would like to make it clear this is a malfunction that will be examined.”

A cyber-attack was apparently ruled out.

The mistaken message came as Israel officially marked “Remembrance Day” according to the Hebrew calendar. On 15 May, Palestinians will mark Nakba Day, remembering their forced displacement in 1948 at the hands of Israeli forces, and mass destruction of their homes and villages.

Read: Israel soldiers joined in as settlers assaulted Palestinians – then killed a local teen