The fallen soldiers include Sergeant Major (res.) Chen Gross, 33, from Gan Yoshiya, a reserve soldier in the Maglan Unit of the Commando Brigade; and Staff Sergeant Yoav Raver, 19, from Sde Warburg, a combat engineer in the Yahalom Unit of the Combat Engineering Corps.
The names of two additional soldiers have been conveyed to their families, but have not yet been made public.
Five additional soldiers were wounded in the incident, including a reserve officer from the Maglan Unit who was seriously injured; the others were moderately wounded.
Over the past week, eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza—the highest weekly toll since early January, nearly five months ago, and prior to the cease-fire. The total number of Israeli military fatalities since the war began on October 7, 2023, now stands at 866.
The deadly incident occurred at 6:10 a.m. during a ground assault by the IDF’s 98th Division in the Bnei Suhaila neighborhood of Gaza, near the Israeli border. The target was a fortified Hamas compound containing a tunnel network, despite the fact that the Bnei Suhaila Battalion of the terror group was reportedly defeated by the same division about a year and two months ago, during a previous maneuver.
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According to the IDF, the force entered the building to clear it, using preliminary fire and supported by tanks as required. The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in Israel, while other forces worked for hours to extract the bodies of the four fallen soldiers from the rubble.
The military has launched an investigation into the incident, which will examine a critical issue confronting troops operating once again in the Gaza Strip—now for the fifth or sixth time: buildings that were previously captured and damaged in repeated raids over the past 18 months have become structurally unstable, increasing the risk of collapse.
The IDF acknowledged that the objective of the morning operation carried out by the Maglan and Yahalom units in central Gaza was to seize and hold territory on a permanent basis. Before doing so, troops were tasked with locating and destroying terrorist infrastructure.