Four IDF soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Thursday morning, the military announced hours later.
The slain soldiers were named by the IDF as Maj. Omri Chai Ben Moshe, 26, from Tzafria; Lt. Eran Shelem, 23, from Ramat Yohanan; Lt. Eitan Avner Ben Itzhak, 22, from Har Bracha; and Lt. Ron Arieli, 20, from Hadera.
Their deaths on Thursday brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 469. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
All four of the slain soldiers served with the Bahad 1 officers’ school’s Dekel Battalion. Ben Moshe was a company commander, while the other three troops were cadets and posthumously promoted to lieutenant.
Before joining the officers’ course, Ben Moshe was a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade; Shelem was a soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit; Ben Itzhak served in the Commando Brigade; and Arieli served in the Golani Brigade.
According to an initial IDF probe, the incident took place during operations in Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood at around 9:30 a.m., as a D9 armored bulldozer was clearing a route while two Humvees drove behind it.
One of the Humvees then moved to the side of the road, where it was hit by an explosive device. The blast killed the four soldiers and wounded three others, including one seriously and two moderately.
The military was still investigating what type of explosive was used, how it was activated, and when it was placed there.
Images circulating on social media on Thursday showed the aftermath of the deadly roadside bomb attack and the heavily damaged IDF Humvee.
While Rafah has been largely cleared of Hamas operatives and terror infrastructure, the IDF believes there are several dozen operatives still there, mostly in the Jenina area. Earlier Thursday, before the attack, different troops of the Bahad 1 school had three engagements with terror operatives, according to the army.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday evening, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that IDF forces “are still operating in the Jenina neighborhood and destroying terror infrastructure.”
Defrin added that there are “still underground infrastructures in the area that have yet to be destroyed, and our forces are working to do so.”
The four casualties announced on Thursday were the first Israeli fatalities in Gaza since four soldiers were killed 10 days ago in a Hamas attack on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Since then, the IDF launched a major ground offensive in Gaza City at the beginning of the week, moving ahead with a plan to conquer the city in the Strip’s north after weeks of preparation.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Tuesday that “our aim is to deepen the blows to Hamas until its defeat.”
He asserted that Hamas had been dealt severe blows: “We have defeated the main part of its military power, and now we are deepening the achievements that will allow us to bring the end of the war closer.”
The war began when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza. Terror groups are still holding 47 of them captive in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 25 confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it had killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel says it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.