Capt. Shahar Gamla (left) and Sgt. Ohad Yaari (Screenshot/X)
Capt. Shahar Gamla, 23, and Sgt. Ohad Yaari, 21, were killed in separate incidents in southern Lebanon.
By World Israel News Staff
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon in separate incidents over the weekend during what President Donald Trump has declared as a ceasefire period between Israel and Lebanon.
On Thursday, Capt. Shahar Gamla, a deputy squad commander in the Commando Brigade’s Egoz Unit, was severely wounded by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah.
He was evacuated to a hospital and succumbed to his wounds on Saturday morning, according to an IDF statement.
Gamla, 23, was from the small Golan Heights community of Natur in northern Israel.
In a separate incident on Friday, Sgt. Ohad Yaari of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion was killed in southern Lebanon.
A preliminary IDF investigation found that Yaari, 21, from Rehovot, was likely killed by an accidental firearm discharge.
His death is being investigated by military police, the IDF said.
Notably, Trump announced in mid-April that he had brokered a ceasefire between Jerusalem and Beirut. Critics argued that the arrangement was fundamentally flawed because Israel is fighting the Hezbollah terror group, a non-state actor, rather than the Lebanese government itself.
Since the ceasefire was declared, more than a dozen Israeli soldiers have been killed in Hezbollah violations, while near-daily explosive drone attacks have targeted military installations and civilian communities in northern Israel near the Lebanese border.
Last week, Trump said he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him not to strike Beirut following intense Hezbollah barrages on cities across northern Israel.
However, Hezbollah has explicitly rejected any obligation to comply with the agreement, stating that it is not bound by the terms of the ceasefire.
In a recent statement to CNN, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on Iran to stop interfering in the country’s internal affairs via its support for Hezbollah.
“It’s not your country, it’s our country,” he said, addressing Iranian leaders. “It’s not your job to interfere in our country.”
“They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States. It’s unacceptable,” he added.
The rejection spurred blistering expressions of anger by U.S. officials.
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