Four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in Southern Lebanon despite the ceasefire currently in effect, the military announced on Monday.
The slain troops were identified as Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, 43, from Zichron Ya’akov; Capt. (res.) Sagi Ya’akov Rubinshtein, 31, from Lavi; Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, 28, from Beit Shemesh; and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Erez Ben Efraim, 25, from Ramat Gan.
All four served in Battalion 9263 of the 226th Brigade, the IDF said.
Israeli forces have killed some two dozen Hezbollah terrorists since the start of the Nov. 27 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday. The Israeli Air Force has also struck dozens of Hezbollah positions during the same period, the military stated.
Under the terms of the truce, Israeli forces are to withdraw from Lebanon by late January, while Lebanon’s army enters those areas vacated by the IDF. Hezbollah has violated the ceasefire repeatedly since the day it took effect, according to the IDF.
The IDF said on Sunday that forces of its 7th Armored Brigade, working under the command of the 98th Division, discovered weapons warehouses hidden in civilian areas of Southern Lebanon.
In one operation, troops found “hundreds” of anti-tank rockets, mortar grenades and a car with a rocket launcher mounted on top, the military said, adding that the forces also “located and destroyed” several tunnel shafts that led to underground Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure.
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday night announced the death in Gaza of Cpt. Avraham Ben Pinchas, 24, a platoon commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion, from Harasha in Samaria.
According to a preliminary probe, his tank was hit by a Hamas missile during a counter-terror operation in Rafah city.
The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 currently stands at 381, and at 813 on all fronts since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, according to official IDF data.
Additionally, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Israel Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded there in May.
