IDF Says 14 Soldiers Killed Over Weekend Amid heavy Fighting in Gaza
This article is brought to you, in part, by the Times of Israel and written by Emanuel Fabian Today, 9:56 am
153 Israeli troops have been killed since the start of the ground operation. 30,000 explosive weapons have been captured since the start of the war.
The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday the names of nine soldiers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip throughout the previous day, bringing the number of troops killed over the entire weekend to 14, as the military deepened its offensive against the Hamas terror group. IDF soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip on December 22 and 23, 2023: Top L-R: Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Issachar Farhi, Master Sgt. (res.) Eliyahu Meir Ohana, Sgt. First Class (res.) Elyassaf Shoshan, Sgt. First Class (res.) Ohad Ashur, Staff Sgt. Roy Elias; middle: Staff Sgt. David Bogdanovskyi, Staff Sgt. Orel Bashan, Staff Sgt. Itamar Shemen, Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko, Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak; bottom: Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Shpits, Master Sgt. (res.) Shay Termin, Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, Staff Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian. (Courtesy)
Five soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps and a paramedic were killed by an anti-tank guided missile that hit a Namer armored engineering vehicle they were in, in southern Gaza. Another four were killed by bombs in two separate incidents during battles with gunmen in central Gaza.
The deaths bring the number of troops killed since the start of the ground operation in late October to 153.
In all, 10 soldiers were killed on Saturday. They were identified as:
Staff Sgt. David Bogdanovskyi, 19, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Haifa.
Staff Sgt. Orel Bashan, 20, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Haifa.
Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko, 20, a squad commander in the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Yiftah.
Staff Sgt. Roy Elias, 21, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Tzofar.
Staff Sgt. Itamar Shemen, 21, a paramedic in the 36th Division, from Lapid.
Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Issachar Farhi, 30, a combat medic in the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Herzliya.
Master Sgt. (res.) Eliyahu Meir Ohana, 28, of the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Haifa.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Elyassaf Shoshan, 23, of the 646th Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Jerusalem.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Ohad Ashur, 23, of the 646th Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Kfar Yona.
Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak, 22, a team commander in the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Haifa.
Commenting on the mounting IDF death toll, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s cabinet meeting, “The war is taking a very heavy toll on us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting.” “Our forces have so far eliminated many thousands of terrorists, and we will continue with all our strength until the end, until victory, until we have completed all our goals,” the premier declared.
Battles raged over the weekend as the IDF continued intense fighting in south Gaza’s Khan Younis, where some of Hamas’s leadership is thought to be hiding.
The military announced Saturday it had killed a Hamas official in charge of supply for the terror group’s military wing in an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah, as it continued efforts to dismantle Hamas’s command structure.
Despite the extensive operations, Hamas has still shown it is capable of firing rockets into Israel, carrying out launches on Saturday evening toward Gaza border communities and Ashkelon, triggering sirens.
Please continue to pray for the safety of the Israeli Defense Force as well as innocent civilians.