JERUSALEM (BN24) — Two Israeli soldiers were killed Sunday in southern Gaza during ongoing combat operations in the city of Khan Yunis, the Israeli military said, as hostilities in the war-torn territory continued to claim lives on both sides.
The soldiers, aged 20 and 22, were members of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) elite Golani Infantry Brigade, specifically the 51st Battalion. According to Israeli military sources, their armored vehicle was struck by a powerful blast believed to have been triggered by a militant hiding in an underground tunnel.
Military correspondents from several Israeli news outlets reported that the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated by a Palestinian militant who emerged from the tunnel network during an IDF operation. An official investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The deaths come just a day after the military confirmed the passing of another Israeli soldier who succumbed to wounds sustained earlier in the week. The cumulative toll brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 2023, to 462, according to the IDF.
“We have lost three young heroes, some of our finest, who gave their lives for the security of our state and the return of all our hostages,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The conflict continues to exact a devastating toll. Israel’s military campaign was launched following Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023, which left 1,219 people dead — most of them civilians — based on an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Since then, the Gaza health ministry, operated by Hamas, reports that 59,733 Palestinians have been killed — a majority of them civilians — in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations. The densely populated enclave has seen near-continuous bombardment, particularly in areas like Khan Yunis and Rafah, where Israeli forces say Hamas maintains a stronghold.
Sunday’s deaths underscore the persistent dangers faced by troops engaged in the urban and tunnel-laced battlegrounds of southern Gaza, as well as the mounting human cost of the nearly ten-month-long war.
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