Two IDF soldiers were killed and two others were seriously wounded in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, the military announced.
One of the slain soldiers was named as Cpt. Eitan Israel Shiknazi, 24, a deputy company commander in the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, from Eli.
The name of the second slain soldier was to be released later, the military said.
The IDF added that two other soldiers of the 932nd Battalion were seriously wounded in the same incident in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun.
The two deaths brings Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 397.
Earlier on Monday, the IDF said its instructions for soldiers have been “sharpened” after troops opened fire on a UN World Food Programme convoy in the central Gaza Strip Sunday.
The WFP said the convoy of three vehicles with eight staff members came under fire by Israeli soldiers “despite having received all of the necessary clearances from Israeli authorities.
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” WFP said, calling for improvements in security conditions to allow aid to continue.
At least 16 bullets struck the convoy, and none of the staff were injured, according to WFP.
The convoy was traveling from southern Gaza to the Strip’s north and returned south following the incident.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF said that “the incident was investigated, instructions were sharpened, and lessons will be drawn from the investigation.
“The IDF continues to act in a targeted manner against terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and does everything in its power to prevent harm to uninvolved [civilians], and through COGAT will continue to work to enable and facilitate humanitarian assistance to residents of the Gaza Strip,” the military added.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that 49 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,854. The number could not be verified and does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Israel and Hamas have been at war for nearly 15 months since the Palestinian terror group invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages to Gaza.
Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November 2024 as well as another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7 and the days that followed.
Israel has said 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.
The war has caused immense damage to Gaza’s infrastructure and some 1.9 million Palestinians of the 2.3 million population are residing in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone,” according to IDF assessments in July.