IDF soldier killed fighting Hamas in south Gaza

Koren Bitan, 19, from Rosh HaAyin, east of Tel Aviv, served in Battalion 450, part of the Bislamach Brigade.

By JNS

Israel Defense Forces Sgt. Koren Bitan was killed while fighting Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said on Monday night.

Bitan, 19, from Rosh HaAyin, east of Tel Aviv, served in Battalion 450, part of the Bislamach Brigade, the military body responsible for the training of all Infantry Corps squad commanders and platoon sergeants.

His family was notified of his death, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

On Monday morning, the military announced that the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist organization killed four IDF troops in a drone strike on a Golani Brigade training base near Binyamina on Sunday night.

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 Friday, 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 Thursday, three Israeli reservists were killed and two others seriously wounded when their vehicle hit an explosive device in the Jabalia area of the northern Gaza Strip.

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 the start of the Gaza ground campaign on Oct. 27, 2023, stands at 353, and at 740 on all fronts since the beginning of the latest conflict on Oct. 7.

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.