The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said early Tuesday local time that twenty-one soldiers had been killed in the central Gaza Strip when Hamas terrorists fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and an anti-tank missile at soldiers in buildings that had contained explosives.
According to Israel’s Army Radio, a reserve unit had approached several buildings in an area near the Israeli border where several buildings had been set for demolition due to the threat they posed to Israel and to soldiers. Hamas terrorists fired two missiles — an anti-tank missile that killed two soldiers, and an RPG that hit a building in which IDF soldiers were working with explosives.
An initial report had suggested that ten soldiers had fallen, but IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari later reported in a briefing that the full number was twenty-one.
The total number of Israeli soldiers that have fallen since Israel began its counterattack in the Gaza Strip has now exceeded 200.
The 21 fallen soldiers marked the deadliest day of the invasion thus far. It was also the second recent multi-casualty event involving demolition.
The soldiers had been working as part of an effort to clear threats within one kilometer of the border with Israel to create a buffer zone that would allow residents of Israel’s southern communities, which were the primary targets of the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, to return home with some sense of security.
Israeli society places a great degree of emphasis on honoring military casualties. The names of fallen soldiers are the top story in news broadcasts, and thousands of people attend military funerals for soldiers whom they may not have known personally at all.
Many reservists have been among the casualties, a sign of the total commitment of Israeli society to the war. Reservists come from all walks of life, leaving their jobs and families to fight, often volunteering to go to the front to defend the survival of the state.
“The war has a painful and heavy price,” Hagari said, adding that the soldiers had died so that “all of us can live here in peace and security.”
Update: The total number of Israeli soldiers killed Monday was 24, including three officers killed in fighting in Khan Yunis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement before a war cabinet meeting (via Government Press Office translation):
Yesterday was one of the most difficult days since the outbreak of the war. We lost 24 of our best heroic sons who fell in defense of the homeland. Together with the citizens of Israel, I grieve for each one of them. I embrace the families, whose lives have changed forever. From here we send from here prayers for the well-being of our wounded. The IDF is carrying out a thorough inquiry into the tragedy; we must learn the lessons and do everything for the well-being of our soldiers.
We are in the midst of a war, the justification of which is without parallel. In this war there have been great achievements, including today, in completing the encirclement of Khan Yunis, but there have also been very heavy costs.
While we bow our heads in memory of our fallen, we are not relenting – even for a moment – in striving for the goal that has no alternative – achieving total victory. Together we will fight – and together we will win.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.