An Israel Defense Forces aircraft killed 10 of the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the deaths of three soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the military announced in a statement on Tuesday morning.
“In a joint operation of the 401st Brigade and the air force, an aircraft attacked and eliminated ten of the terrorists who took part in yesterday’s terror act, in which Staff Sgt. Ido Zano, Staff Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern and Sgt. Omri Cohen, of blessed memory, fell,” the army stated.
The three soldiers, all members of the Givati Brigade’s “Shaked” Battalion, were reportedly killed by a Hamas anti-tank missile during counterterror operations in the Jabalia area of the northern Strip.
An initial investigation revealed that the soldiers were ambushed as they left Gaza after completing a mission in Jabalia. According to Israel’s Kan News broadcaster, the soldiers were being transported in violation of a directive that prohibits such movements during daylight hours.
The IDF said on Tuesday that forces of the 162nd Division—which includes the Givati Brigade—continue fighting in the Jabalia area, “eliminating terrorists and destroying terrorist infrastructure.”
Over the past two months, the 162nd Division in Jabalia and nearby Beit Lahiya “eliminated and arrested many terrorists, destroyed terrorist infrastructure and underground tunnel routes, contributing to the weakening of Hamas in northern the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said on Monday.
On Sunday, the Northern Brigade of the IDF’s Gaza Division wrapped up its operations in Jabalia. The raid, which also included engineering troops, was launched in October following indications of a Hamas resurgence.
IDF ground forces entered the coastal enclave following a weeks-long air campaign in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel’s south, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands of others, and abducted more than 250 people the Strip—96 of whom are still there, along with four others who entered Gaza earlier.
Jerusalem’s war goals for Gaza are to destroy Hamas’s capabilities, ensure that it cannot threaten Israel again, and return the captives.
The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 stands at 384, and at 816 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terror massacre, according to IDF data.
(JNS)