Tragic milestone: 900th IDF soldier killed in war

Friendly fire caught Sgt. 1st Class Ariel Lubliner in a logistics convoy moving on a secure axis in Gaza.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A tragic milestone was reached in the IDF on Saturday when Sgt. 1^st Class Ariel Lubliner was killed by friendly fire in the Gaza Strip, marking the 900th soldier killed in the Hamas-Israel war known as Operation Swords of Iron.

The initial investigation revealed that the 34-year-old reservist of Logistics Brigade 6036 was in a convoy moving on a secure axis in southern Gaza at about 10 p.m. when, for an as-yet-unknown reason, one of the soldiers guarding the road shot at the convoy.

A medical unit rushed to the scene but was forced to declare Lubliner dead.

Lubliner, an immigrant from Brazil, served multiple rounds of reserve duty since the Hamas-led invasion and massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the ongoing war.

He leaves behind a wife and 9-month-old son.

According to the IDF website, which last updated its operational accident numbers in mid-July, 31 additional soldiers have died in friendly-fire incidents in the Southern Command since the ground invasion of Gaza began at the end of October 2023.

Another 46 soldiers have died in weapons accidents, including misdirected air or tank fire and premature detonations of explosives, among other deadly errors.

Of the 1,741 wounded in military mishaps, 71 were hurt by friendly fire and 770 in weapons accidents.

Almost one-third, or 295, of those who have fallen in the last nearly 23 months of fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, have been reservists.

Lubliner was the 114th soldier to fall from the Golani Brigade, which has suffered the most losses in the war. Half of them were killed on Oct. 7, as it was the turn of Golani troops to be deployed at the Gaza border when Hamas launched its surprise attack.

The Combat Engineers is the second-hardest-hit brigade, losing 79 men.

A total of 311 soldiers were killed during the invasion and in its immediate aftermath, when troops were rushed to the area to hunt down those terrorists who had not fled back into Gaza after their killing and hostage-taking spree.

Of the 456 killed in Gaza itself since then, the deadliest month for the IDF was December 2023, when 108 soldiers fell fighting Hamas and its allied terrorist organizations.

In the first eight months of 2025, a total of 85 soldiers lost their lives, including Lubliner.

Since Oct. 7, which Israelis dubbed the “Black Sabbath,” 133 soldiers have been killed on all other fronts combined.

fallen IDF soldiersFatal accidentGaza Beltgaza stripIsrael-Hamas war