TEL AVIV: An Israeli soldier was killed and 13 others were injured on Wednesday during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip. It raised the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas since late October to 247.
The soldier was named as Staff Sgt. David Sasson, 21, of the Oketz canine unit, from Ganot Hadar. Among the 12 wounded in the same battle against Hamas operatives, five sustained serious injuries, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
According to the IDF, the troops of the Oketz unit and Commando Brigade raided a multi-story building in the Hamad Town residential complex in Khan Younis, when several Hamas operatives ambushed them.
The soldiers were hit by gunfire, RPGs, and an explosive device, according to an IDF probe. Several of the Hamas gunmen were killed by the troops and in airstrikes in the area. The Times of Israel reported this development today.
The IDF said that troops have captured hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives during its ongoing raid on Hamad Town. It said the high-rise towers in the Qatari-funded neighborhood were used by Hamas.
So far, the IDF said some 250 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives have been captured, some of whom participated in the October 7 assault and are members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force.
The IDF said the interrogations of the operatives provided helpful information for its continued operations in Gaza.
The military said the Commando Brigade’s Maglan and Egoz units, along with the Navy’s Shayetet 13 and Shin Bet agents, have been carrying out building-to-building searches in Hamad.
The commandos captured “many” operatives who surrendered to them in the neighborhood, including a Hamas sniper squad commander and two other commanders, the IDF said.
