Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday night.
Staff Sgt. Roei Wolf, 20, from Ramat Gan, and Staff Sgt. Lavi Lipshitz, 20, from Modi’in, served in the Givati Infantry Brigade’s reconnaissance unit.
Two other soldiers were seriously wounded in the same incident. Their families have been informed, the IDF said.
The Israel Air Force struck more than 300 Hamas targets and killed “numerous” terrorists in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, including a senior commander, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday morning.
Among the sites targeted were underground anti-tank missile and rocket launching positions and “military” compounds, the army said.
Israeli ground forces also engaged and destroyed terrorist cells, and provided real-time direction for airstrikes on Hamas forces and infrastructure.
Israeli forces have been conducting “fierce battles” against Hamas “deep in the Gaza Strip” in recent hours, the IDF said on Tuesday.
Givati Brigade troops seized control of a terror compound in western Jabaliya and killed some 50 terrorists, the army announced on Tuesday night.
The complex included tunnels, rocket-launching positions and weapon-storage sites. The IDF said soldiers clashed with Hamas terrorists in the building as the Israeli Air Force struck targets in its vicinity.
After capturing the area, troops destroyed entrances to tunnels and weapon storage sites. In addition, intelligence information was obtained from the compound, according to the IDF.
Earlier on Tuesday, four Israelis sustained wounds of varying degrees when terrorist rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck the southern coastal city of Ashdod.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated a 50-year-old man in serious condition with shrapnel injuries, and three men ages 64, 46 and 35 lightly wounded by glass shards.
All four victims were evacuated to the city’s Assuta Medical Center, MDA said. The organization was searching the area for additional casualties.
Earlier on Tuesday, a minor suffered shrapnel injuries when a rocket hit the community of Bnei Darom, just outside Ashdod, Israel’s Channel 12 said.
