4 IDF soldiers killed by explosives in Gaza City

The soldiers were carrying out an operation against terrorists who were hiding in a school when they were ambushed and hit with explosives.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Four IDF soldiers were killed during an operation in Gaza on Friday.

The soldiers, all from the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, were identified as Sgt. Itay Livny, 19, from Ramat Hasharon; Sgt. Yosef Dassa, 19, from Kiryat Bialik; Sgt. Ermiyas Mekuriyaw, 19, from Beersheba and Sgt. Daniel Levy, 19, from Kiryat Motzkin.

They were carrying out an operation against terrorists who were hiding in a school in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City when they were ambushed and hit with explosives.

The deaths of these soldiers bring the IDF casualty number during the Gaza ground war to 171.

In addition, two soldiers from the 401 Armored Brigade’s 9th Battalion were severely wounded by RPG fire on a tank in Rafah.

On Friday, the IDF was continuing the Rafah operation initiated on Monday when troops captured part of the Salah a-Din road, along with the Rafah Crossing to Egypt.

Tanks have moved further into Rafah, but only in areas that civilians have evacuated.

The IDF seized the Rafah crossing, which will negatively impact Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons and people back and forth from neighboring Sinai.

The crossing is part of the wider Philadelphi Corridor running along the Gaza-Egypt border, which has for years been a central supply line for Hamas smuggling.

Prior to the Rafah operation, the IDF evacuated 150,000 Gazans in the area, and evacuations are still ongoing.