The Israel Defense Forces announced on Saturday evening that Sgt. 1st class (res.) Ariel Lubliner, 34, from Kiryat Bialik, had been killed in the southern Gaza Strip.
Lubliner, who served in the Logistics Regiment 6036 of the 36th Division, was killed during a firefight in the Magen Oz corridor in the Khan Yunis area, according to Ynet.
The military was reportedly investigating the possibility he died due to friendly fire.
Lubliner, who immigrated to the Jewish state from Brazil some 10 years ago, had been slated to vacation in his country of origin together with his wife, Barbara, and their nine-month-old son Lior.
“Together with all the people of Israel, my wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the family of Sgt. 1st class (res.) Ariel Lubliner, who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night.
“Ariel, of blessed memory, fought bravely to safeguard the security of Israel, to defeat Hamas, and to bring back all our hostages,” said the premier. “May his memory be blessed and forever cherished.”
The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27, 2023, now stands at 456, and at 900 on all fronts since Hamas’s massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, according to official IDF data.
On Aug. 23, the military announced that IDF Lt. Ori Gerlic, 20, from Meitar, near Beersheva, was killed in combat in the southern Strip.
According to Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster, Gerlic was killed in an “operational accident” in the city of Khan Yunis. He was reportedly seriously wounded when an Israeli explosive device detonated under unclear circumstances. Despite efforts to save him in Gaza and later at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, he succumbed to his wounds.
Netanyahu on Aug. 14 outlined his government’s parameters for ending the war against Hamas in Gaza.
The five conditions for victory were listed as the disarmament of Hamas; the return of all 48 remaining hostages; the Strip’s demilitarization; Israeli security control; and establishing “an alternative civilian administration” there.
