Four IDF soldiers died on Friday in a building collapse caused by a powerful explosion in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Five more soldiers were wounded in the incident: a reserve officer in Magellan commando unit seriously, and the rest moderately.
The IDF spokesman authorized for publication the names of two of the slain men: Sgt. Maj. (res.) Chen Gross, 33, of the Maglan unit, from Moshav Gan Yoshiya in the Hefer Valley, and Staff Sgt. Yoav Raver, 19, of the Yahalom engineering special forces unit, from Moshav Sde Warburg north of Kfar Saba.
The names of the other two soldiers killed were released on Saturday night: Staff Sgt. Uri Yhonatan Cohen, 20, from Moshav Neve Yarak in the Sharon plain, and Sgt. First Class Tom Rotstein, 23, from Ramat Gan. Both men served in the Yaholom unit.
The explosion took place at 6:10 a.m., during a ground attack by forces of the 98th Paratroopers Division. The target of the operation was a fortified Hamas compound with a system of tunnels.
The soldiers entered the building to clear it with preemptive fire and tank cover as required. IDF troops worked for hours to extract the four men killed from the rubble.
Raver left behind his parents, Lior and Gili, his sister Tamar, and his brother Omri.
Gross is survived by his parents, Irit and Adi, and two brothers, Mor and Raz. He lived in Hinanit in northern Samaria and was a member of the community’s rapid response team.
The death toll among IDF troops since the start of the ground incursion in Gaza on Oct. 27, 2023, now stands at 422, and at 864 on all fronts since the Hamas-led terrorist assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Additionally, civilian contractors Liron Yitzhak and Kobi Avitan were mortally wounded in Gaza in May 2024 and January 2025, respectively, and Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora, of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was slain during a hostage rescue in June 2024.
