An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed battling Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
The military named the slain man as Sgt. Ori Ashkenazi Nechemya, 19, from Ashkelon, a member of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion.
A preliminary probe found that he was killed by anti-tank missile fire in Rafah.
Earlier this week, Lt. Shahar Ben Nun, 21, from the Paratrooper Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, was killed by an IAF missile that malfunctioned during a strike in southern Gaza.
On Saturday, two Israeli soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in central Gaza. The casualties were identified as Maj. (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled, 34, from Rosh Ha’ayin and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Mordechai Yosef Ben Shoam, 34, from Geva Binyamin, a town also known as Adam. Both served with the 16th “Jerusalem” Brigade’s 8119th Battalion.
The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 332, and at 695 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.
Additionally, Chief Inspector 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.
