Four Israeli soldiers were killed Saturday in an ambush in the Hamas terror group’s tunnel network, taking the Jewish state’s military death toll to 604 since October 7.
Saturday’s deaths saw the troops ambushed by terrorists in the tunnels, which stretch hundreds of kilometres in a sophisticated winding network underneath Gaza, buried beneath the likes of hospitals, schools and mosques.
Gunmen came out of a tunnel in a destroyed building and opened fire on the soldiers, who were just 20 and 21 years old.
The men – Captain Ido Baruch, 21; Sergeant Amitai Even Shoshan, 20; Sergeant Ilai Zair, 20; and Sergeant Reef Harush, 20; all of the Commando Brigade’s training base – were carrying out a patrol along the IDF’s logistics route in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, when they were attacked.
When soldiers tried to pursue the terrorists, who had fled back into the tunnel network, they found the route was booby-trapped and were unable to continue.
The IDF’s latest figures, released to mark six months since the war broke out, claim 9,200 rockets have been launched by Hamas into Israeli territory. Over 12,000 terrorists have been killed, it says, while more than 3,000 rockets and launchers have been seized or destroyed and 32,000 targets struck from the air.
The war, which follows Hamas’s invasion of Israel on Oct 7, has seen chaos and destruction befall Gaza in the bloodiest conflict since Hamas took over control of the coastal strip in a coup in 2007.
Aid agencies say Gaza is on the verge of famine with two-thirds of the population displaced.
According to Hamas figures, over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory attacks as it continues its mission to eliminate Hamas and rescue the hostages.
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