Ten Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, one of the deadliest days for the military since its ground invasion began.
Nine troops were killed in a battle in the heart of Shejaiya, one of the deadliest single encounters during the Israel-Hamas war, while another soldier in the Combat Engineering Corps’s 614th Battalion was killed in a separate incident in northern Gaza. Their deaths brought the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in action during the conflict to 115.
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One of the soldiers killed Tuesday was Col. Itzhak Ben Basat, 44, head of the Golani Brigade’s commander’s team and the most senior Israeli troop killed in the war.
Four soldiers who were attacked in Sehjaiya were entering a cluster of three buildings believed to have been abandoned when Hamas militants ambushed them with grenades and opened fire on them, according to the Times of Israel. Others who attempted to come to their aid were also attacked.
The IDF named the soldiers killed in the battle in Shejaiya as Ben Basat; Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, 35, the commander of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion; Maj. Roei Meldasi, 23, a company commander in the 13th Battalion; Maj. Moshe Avram Bar On, 23, a company commander in the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion; Capt. Liel Hayo, 22, a platoon commander in the 51st Battalion; Sgt. Achia Daskal, 19, a soldier in the 51st Battalion; Sgt. Eran Aloni, 19, of the 51st Battalion; Maj. Ben Shelly, 26, a squad commander in the Israeli Air Force’s Unit 669; and Sgt. 1st Class Rom Hecht, 20, of Unit 669. Staff Sgt. Oriya Yaakov, 19, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 614th Battalion, was killed in a separate incident also in northern Gaza.
Israel declared war on Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed. The vast majority of the victims were civilians, including women and children, while many showed signs of torture or having been burned beyond recognition. Israel initially began its response through an overwhelming aerial bombardment campaign before entering Gaza on Oct. 27.
Israel initially carried out actions in northern Gaza but after the weeklong ceasefire began focusing on targets in the southern part of the enclave, which is now more densely populated than at the start of the conflict due to its own insistence that northern Gaza residents flee south.
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Israeli officials have said approximately 7,000 Hamas fighters, roughly a quarter of the group’s suspected fighting force, have been killed throughout the war and that 500 militants have been detained in Gaza in the past month. Israel is trying to find Hamas's senior leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader, whom they believed to be hiding in the south.
The death toll in Gaza is more than 17,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, which has resulted in significant criticism for Israel, including from the United Nations. The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday, which came days after the United States blocked ceasefire calls in the U.N.’s Security Council.