The Israel Air Force tried to cover up a major blunder using censorship law, but on Sunday reports emerged that several fighter jets were severely damaged by rainwater at the Hatzor airbase in southern Israel, costing the state hundreds of millions of shekels.
Soldiers were deployed to rescue mechanics that were trapped by the rainwater, which in some instances rose as high as five feet following a flurry of winter storms last week, Channel 12 reported.
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On Thursday, the IAF used the country's censorship laws to stifle reports on the incident, claiming it would harm the country's security.
But three days later, the IDF censors had authorized the publication after realizing it would be difficult to keep under wraps.
The IAF launched an inquiry into the matter to examine why the base wasn't prepared well enough for such a scenario, especially as information of the extreme weather was known in advance.
According to Channel 12, the military is also probing why ground troops did not arrive in time to help move the planes off to a safe area.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit released a statement saying that "due to the extreme weather conditions last week, creeks near the airbase in the southern part of the country overflowed and flooded several focal points at the base.
"Several planes were damaged. They will be repaired and ready for action in the next few days. There were no casualties during the incident," the statement said.
A senior air force officer said Monday morning that the incident had "operational ramifications at the time" of the flooding.
"The air force prepared all its bases for the [inclement] weather… the main priority was [to protect] human life and then equipment and weapons. Up until 5 a.m. the base was dry. And then came 50,000 cubic meters of water, which knocked down cement walls," he said.
The officer continued: "We made a mistake by not evacuating the underground hangars. Eight planes were left there. It was a mistake not to move them, which we will investigate."
"With that," the officer added, "the damage was less than we initially thought." All the planes that sustained damage were F-16s.
Flights resumed at the Hatzor airbase on Sunday, the officer said, including from the squadrons whose planes were damaged.
Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.
