Four soldiers were killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, the IDF announced.
The slain troops were named as:
Staff Sgt. Orr Katz, 20, from Ma’ale Adumim.
Staff Sgt. Nave Yair Asulin, 21, from Carmit.
Staff Sgt. Gary Lalhruaikima Zolat, 21, from Afula.
Staff Sgt. Ofir Eliyahu, 20, from Holon.
The soldiers all served with the Kfir Brigade’s Shimshon Battalion. The four were killed in an explosion while operating in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, and the IDF is investigating whether it was due to an anti-tank missile or an explosive device.
Their deaths bring Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and during operations along the border to 375.
The IDF’s offensive in Jabalia began in early October, the fourth push into the northern Gaza refugee camp since the start of the war a year ago. The military has said that this operation will finally break Hamas’s forces in Jabalia, which it has called the “most significant center of gravity” for the terror group in northern Gaza.
The IDF claims that more than 55,000 civilians have left Jabalia after Hamas was allegedly forcing them to stay there to act as a human shield for their activities. Some 60,000 Palestinians were estimated to have been in Jabalia before the latest operation was launched last month.
The population has largely moved to Gaza City, with only a few dozen crossing the IDF’s Netzarim Corridor and heading to the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Strip’s south.
Last week, the IDF estimated that only a few hundred people were left in Jabalia, both civilians and combatants. Several thousand Palestinians also remain in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and other northern Gaza towns, where the military plans to operate against Hamas as part of the ongoing offensive.
The army said it has killed over 1000 Hamas operatives in the renewed Jabalia offensive, adding that it has taken over 700 operatives into custody.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says that over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, though the numbers cannot be verified and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The war erupted when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, 2023, murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.