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Two soldiers killed in Hezbollah attacks, bringing IDF toll to 715

The slain men were named as Maj. (res.) Nael Fwarsy and Sgt. Tomer Keren.

IDF Soldiers Fatalities
Maj. (res.) Nael Fwarsy, 43, (left) and Sgt. Tomer Keren, 20, were killed in Hezbollah strikes on Sept. 19, 2024. Credit: IDF.

Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed on Thursday in Hezbollah attacks in the north, the military announced.

The slain troops were named as: Maj. (res.) Nael Fwarsy, 43, of the 300th “Baram” Regional Brigade’s 299th Battalion, from Maghar; and Sgt. Tomer Keren, 20, of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, from Haifa.

Fwarsy was killed when an explosive-laden drone launched from Lebanon struck near Moshav Ya’ara in the Western Galilee.

Keren was killed when two anti-tank missiles fired by Hezbollah struck the Ramim Ridge area in the Eastern Galilee.

In a statement published several hours after the deadly attacks, the IDF announced that fighter jets struck some “30 Hezbollah launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites, containing approximately 150 launcher barrels that were ready to fire projectiles toward Israeli territory.”

“Additionally, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and a weapons storage facility in multiple areas in Southern Lebanon,” the army stated.

Four IDF soldiers were killed on Tuesday battling Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah.

They were named as:

Capt. Daniel Mimon Toaff, 23, a deputy company commander in the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Moreshet; Staff Sgt. Agam Naim, 20, a paramedic with the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, from Mishmarot; Staff Sgt. Amit Bakri, 21, of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Yoshivia; and Staff Sgt. Dotan Shimon, 21, of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Elazar.

Naim was the first female soldier killed during the IDF’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 346, and at 715 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 in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in the Strip in May.

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