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Two IDF troops killed in Gaza, bringing military death toll to 691

The slain soldiers were named as Maj. (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Mordechai Yosef Ben Shoam.

IDF Maj. (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled (right) and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Mordechai Yosef Ben Shoam were killed in the Gaza Strip, Aug. 17, 2024. Credit: Israel Defense Forces.
IDF Maj. (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled (right) and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Mordechai Yosef Ben Shoam were killed in the Gaza Strip, Aug. 17, 2024. Credit: Israel Defense Forces.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in central Gaza on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The casualties were identified as Maj. (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled, 34, from Rosh Haayin and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Mordechai Yosef Ben Shoam, 34, from Geva Binyamin. Both served with the Jerusalem Brigade’s 8119th Battalion.

They were killed in the IDF-controlled Netzarim Corridor in the Strip’s center while en route to resupply troops in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 331, and at 691 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.

Additionally, Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora, a member of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza last month, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in May.

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