5 IDF soldiers killed fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon

The slain troops were named as Maj. Ofek Bachar, 24, from Ness Ziona; Cap. Elad Siman Tov, 23, from Tzofim; Staff Sgt. Elyashiv Eitan Wieder, 22, from Jerusalem; Staff Sgt. Yakov Hillel, 21, from Jerusalem; and Staff Sgt. Yehudah Dror Yahalom, 21, from Hebron.

By JNS

Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed fighting Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon, the military announced Thursday.

The slain troops were named as Maj. Ofek Bachar, 24, from Ness Ziona; Cap. Elad Siman Tov, 23, from Tzofim; Staff Sgt. Elyashiv Eitan Wieder, 22, from Jerusalem; Staff Sgt. Yakov Hillel, 21, from Jerusalem; and Staff Sgt. Yehudah Dror Yahalom, 21, from Hebron.

All five served in the IDF’s elite Golani reconnaissance unit.

Eight soldiers were wounded in Southern Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday, while another sustained wounds in Gaza, the military added.

On Monday night, the IDF announced that Sgt. Koren Bitan, 19, was killed while fighting Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip.

One day prior, Hezbollah terrorists killed four soldiers in a drone strike on an IDF Golani Brigade training base near Binyamina. The IDF identified them as Sgt. Omri Tamari, 19, from Mazkeret Batya; Sgt. Yosef Hieb, 19, from Tuba-Zangariyye; Sgt. Yoav Agmon, 19, from Binyamina-Giv’at Ada; and Sgt. Alon Amitay, 19, from Ramot Naftali.

On Oct. 11, an IDF soldier was killed in southern Gaza. Staff Sgt. Ittai Fogel, 22, served as a tank commander in the 46th Armored Battalion of the IDF’s 401st “Iron Tracks” Brigade. He was from Yakir in Samaria.

On Oct. 10, three reservists were killed and two others seriously injured when their vehicle hit an explosive in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

The slain men were named as Master Sgt. (res.) Ori Moshe Borenstein, 32, from Moreshet; Master Sgt. (res.) Tzvi Matityahu Marantz, 32, from Bnei Adam; and Maj. (res.) Netanel Hershkovitz, 37, from Jerusalem. All three were part of the 5460th support unit of the IDF’s 460th Brigade.

The total death toll among Israeli soldiers since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre now stands at 745, according to official figures.

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 in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in the Strip in May.