Tonight, Israel Police and the Border Police announced the death of Sergeant Neta Yitzchok Kahana, an undercover officer with the Border Police’s Southern District, who was killed during a confrontation with terrorists in southern Gaza on Friday.
Authorities confirmed that Kahana’s family had been notified and pledged that both the Israel Police and Border Police would offer their full support to the grieving relatives throughout this difficult time.
“Israel Police bows its head and mourns the fall of the brave fighter who fell while defending the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” the police said in an official statement.
Separately, the IDF reported the death of another soldier: “Captain Ido Voloch, 21 years old, from Yerushalayim, an armored corps officer and platoon commander in the 46th Battalion of the 401st Brigade (“Iron Trails”), fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip.”
As fierce battles continued throughout Gaza, Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday acknowledged that the Israel Defense Forces were making progress but also suffering heavy losses, noting the death of a reservist on Thursday and another soldier who was critically injured by RPG fire on Friday afternoon.
“The achievements are great, but still, the dangers are great and the prices are heavy,” Katz posted on X.
His remarks were made as reports surfaced of intensified Israeli strikes targeting both northern and southern areas of Gaza.
“Thousands of IDF soldiers in the standing army and reserves are now heroically fighting in Gaza for the release of hostages and to destroy Hamas terrorists,” Katz emphasized, noting that the military was operating “intensely” to safeguard its ground forces.
“All Israeli citizens must embrace and strengthen IDF commanders and soldiers and pray for their safety and success,” he urged.
About an hour after Katz’s message, the IDF issued a warning instructing Palestinians to evacuate the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City ahead of planned Israeli military operations in the area.
In a message posted on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, shared a map highlighting the evacuation zone and explained that the warning was prompted by recent terrorist attacks targeting Israeli troops. He advised civilians to move westward within Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Mohammed al-Mughayyir, a senior official in Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency, told AFP that the number of casualties from Israeli strikes on Friday had climbed to at least 40.
WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news outlet, reported that an elderly couple was killed by Israeli artillery fire near Zeitoun. In addition, one Palestinian reportedly died in an airstrike on Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, and three others were killed when an airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced civilians in central Gaza City.
WAFA also claimed that two Palestinians lost their lives in drone attacks in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun, both located in northern Gaza.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency further reported that a family of five — a husband, wife, and three children — were killed when their tent was struck in the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal stated that the pregnant mother was among the deceased.
The IDF did not issue an immediate response regarding these specific incidents. The army has repeatedly said it strives to avoid civilian casualties and blames Hamas for operating within civilian areas, such as schools, to launch attacks against Israeli forces.
The military stated that on Friday afternoon, its fighter jets conducted airstrikes in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, aiming to eliminate gunmen who had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli Humvee and potentially opened fire with light weapons as well.
According to the IDF, the RPG attack left a soldier from the 205th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 5250th Battalion critically wounded and caused minor injuries to two additional soldiers.
{Matzav.com Israel}