The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it had lost 24 men in combat in Gaza in a single day, including 21 reservists. This was the deadliest day for Israel since it began its ground offensive on Palestinian territory on October 27.
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All reservists were killed on Monday in a single attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007. The symbolic limit of 200 Israeli soldiers killed since October 27th was exceeded on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an investigation into this “disaster.”
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari reported an RPG rocket launcher attack on a tank stationed near two two-story buildings that the army planned to raze.
“The armed forces were working to destroy terrorist buildings and infrastructure (…) 600 meters from the border” between Gaza and Israel, the official said during a televised news conference.
“At around 4pm, an RPG missile was reportedly fired by terrorists at a tank providing security to the troops,” he continued. “Simultaneously,” an explosion tore away both buildings, “which collapsed instantly while most of the force was still inside or nearby.”
The buildings had been heavily mined to destruction. It was not yet clear on Tuesday why they exploded earlier than expected.
The army released the identities of the reservists one by one on its website today. “We worked until the last few hours to locate the victims,” the official said, citing the difficulty of recovering bodies buried under the rubble.
“War has a high, even very high, price. Our reservists sacrificed what they held most dear so that we could all live here safely.”
The war was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which killed more than 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas and launched a military operation that killed 25,295 Palestinians – the vast majority women and children, according to the Palestinian movement's health ministry.