Two soldiers killed in Gaza as IDF leaves Jabaliya, presses into center of Rafah
Israeli soldiers pulled out of the Jabaliya refugee camp Friday, wrapping up an operation to clear out Hamas-led fighters who had re-entrenched in northern Gaza, as troops pushed a pinpoint offensive deeper into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the military said Friday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Two Israeli troops were killed amid the intense fighting, the Israel Defense Forces announced, as the army’s death toll in the seven-month-old ground campaign neared 300.
The army announced that Sgt. First Class (res.) Adar Gavriel, 24, of the Bislamach Brigade’s 6828th Battalion, was killed in Jabaliya, where troops have been fighting for the last three weeks against Hamas cells that regrouped in the city’s historic refugee camp, an area that the military had not reached previously.
According to an initial IDF probe, the Caesarea native was hit by a grenade hurled by a terror operative from a building as troops were scanning the area. The soldiers killed the operative a short while later.
Sgt. Yehonatan Elias, 20, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, was killed during fighting in Rafah, where Israel says it is engaged in a “precise” and “intelligence-based” offensive against the Hamas terror group’s last major stronghold.
The Jerusalemite was killed during a battle that also left a Givati officer seriously wounded, the military said.
Their deaths brought the toll of slain troops in the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and amid operations along the border to 294. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Adar Gavriel, left, and Sgt. Yonatan Elias, killed during fighting in Gaza on May 30, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Gavriel was the 10th Israeli soldier killed in the Jabaliya operation, including five who died as the result of a single “friendly fire incident.”
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The IDF pushed into Jabaliya earlier this month for the third time during the war, in an operation launched to oust Hamas fighters trying to re-establish themselves in northern Gaza and following new intelligence obtained by the IDF on the bodies of Israeli hostages being held there.
Amid the 20-day-long operation, which wrapped up early Friday morning, the military said it killed hundreds of terror operatives, recovered the bodies of seven slain Israeli hostages, and demolished major tunnels.
IDF troops operate in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya, in a handout photo published May 31, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Palestinians had reported that the IDF was pulling out of Jabaliya on Thursday, though the army denied the claim at the time.
IDF officers described the fighting in Jabaliya as some of the most intense amid the war. Jabaliya’s refugee camp is one of Gaza’s most densely built-up areas, and troops came under massive RPG fire by Hamas operatives.
The IDF said Hamas turned Jabaliya’s civilian infrastructure into “a fortified combat complex,” opened fire at troops from schools and other sites where civilians were sheltering, and built tunnel networks under civilian buildings. A video released by the military showed the entrance to a tunnel inside a school in Jabaliya.
Some 120 anti-tank projectiles were launched at the troops, along with dozens more incidents of planted explosive devices, sniper fire, and drones that dropped bombs, according to the military.
Overground, the division’s 7th, 460th and Paratroopers brigades killed hundreds of gunmen in “intense battles” and destroyed dozens of sites belonging to terror groups, the IDF said.
The IDF estimated that it killed around 500-600 terror operatives during the operation in Jabaliya. Only 350 have been verified so far, following battles and airstrikes.
More than 200 airstrikes were carried out adjacent to the ground forces amid the operation, killing gunmen, including Hamas field commanders, the IDF said. kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng kng
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