Nine soldiers were killed in fighting deep in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the Israeli military announced early Wednesday. That brought the death toll among troops that day to 11, as leaders warned of the “heavy casualties” that will be paid as the army pushes its offensive to destroy the terror group Hamas.
Israeli forces continued to attack targets from the ground and air overnight, killing dozens of members of the terror group, the Israel Defense Forces said. The activity appeared to be focused on Jabaliya, a Hamas stronghold on the outskirts of Gaza City that was hit by airstrikes overnight.
Seven soldiers from the Tzabar Battalion of the Givati Infantry Brigade were killed when anamener armored personnel carrier they were in was hit by an anti-tank missile fired by Hamas. In the same incident, another four soldiers were injured, including one seriously.
They were named Sgt. Adi Danan, 20, from Yavné; Halel Solomon, 20, of Dimona; Erez Mishlovsky, 20, of Oranit; Staff Sergeant Adi Leon, 20, from Nili; Cpl. Ido Ovadia, 19, from Tel Aviv; Cpl. Lior Siminovich, 19, from Herzliya; and Staff Sergeant Roei Dawi, 20, of Jerusalem.
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Two other soldiers from the 77th Battalion, 7th Armored Brigade – Lt. Ariel Reich, 24, of Jerusalem and Cpl. Asif Luger, 21, of Yagur – was killed when her tank ran over an explosive device. Two other soldiers were seriously injured in the same incident. A soldier from Givati’s Rotem battalion was seriously injured in separate clashes with terrorists in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.
On Tuesday evening, the IDF announced that Staff Sgt. Roei Wolf, 20, of Ramat Gan, and Staff Sgt. Lavi Lipshitz, 20, of Modiin, both of whom served in the reconnaissance unit of the Givati Infantry Brigade, was killed. The army said early Wednesday that the two died when a building they were in was hit by a shell.
In this handout photo released November 1, 2023, Israeli forces are seen in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war against Hamas. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The death toll highlighted the threats soldiers face as the army shifts to fierce urban fighting in Gaza’s crowded streets after weeks of harsh airstrikes. The urban battle zone is believed to be infested with bombs and booby traps and is crisscrossed by a vast network of tunnels used by terrorists to ambush or surprise troops.
“The loss of IDF soldiers in battles with Hamas terrorists in Gaza is a heavy and painful blow,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday morning, expressing condolences to the families of the fallen.
“Our significant successes in the fierce fighting deep in the Gaza Strip are, to our regret, taking a heavy toll,” he said, pledging that Israel was ready for a long and complex operation.
Staff Sergeant Lavi Lipshitz, 20, from Modiin (left) and Staff Sergeant. Roei Wolf, 20, from Ramat Gan (right), both of whom served in the reconnaissance unit of the Givati Infantry Brigade and were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Air Force continued to provide protection for troops and tanks fighting in the enclave. Overnight on Tuesday, ground troops ordered the air force to attack a building in Jabaliya where a number of Hamas activists had gathered, the IDF said. The army said ground troops also spotted a car with an anti-tank missile heading toward them in northern Gaza and ordered a plane to attack it.
Forces including ground troops attacked dozens of Hamas targets overnight, the army said.
The air force also carried out attacks against Hamas command centers and other terrorist cells, it said.
The IDF said on Wednesday that around 11,000 sites belonging to Hamas and other terrorist groups had been attacked since the start of the war.
This image taken on November 1, 2023 from a position along the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel shows a cloud of smoke obscuring the Gaza skyline during Israeli attacks (Photo by Jack Guez / AFP)
As fighting raged, Palestinians in Gaza appeared to be hit by a communications blackout again on Wednesday morning, days after communications were restored under U.S. pressure.
Palestinian telecommunications providers Paltel and Jawwal told The Associated Press early Wednesday that there had been a communications outage.
Internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org confirmed that Gaza “is in the midst of a complete or near-total telecommunications outage.”
It said the disruption was consistent with a blackout imposed from late Friday to early Sunday that coincided with the entry of large numbers of ground troops into Gaza, in what Israel described at the time as a new phase of the war.
US media reported that the initial blockage ended only after the White House pressured Israel to restore the networks.
Israel has not commented on any of the blackouts.
An AFP journalist in Gaza confirmed the loss of communication, adding that his phone still had a signal because he was using an international SIM card.
Another AFP journalist said that in the border town of Rafah, only people with Israeli or Egyptian telephone lines were allowed to use their cell phones.
The blackout meant that details about the ongoing fighting following the IDF releases were sparse and travel in and out of the Strip was virtually halted.
After weeks of punishing air strikes, Israel has launched a ground offensive in recent days. The war began on October 7, when around 2,500 Hamas-led terrorists crossed the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing around 1,400 people and taking at least 245 hostages under the cover of a flood Ages seized Thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli cities.
The vast majority of those killed when terrorists occupied border communities were civilians – including babies, children and the elderly. Entire families were executed in their homes and over 260 were slaughtered at an outdoor festival, many amid horrific terrorist brutality.”
Israel Defense Forces flares light up the night sky in the northern Gaza Strip, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
The Hamas-run Health Ministry has claimed that more than 8,500 people were killed in the enclave, a figure that cannot be independently verified. Hamas is accused of artificially inflating the death toll and does not distinguish between civilians and terrorists. The terror group has pushed back against such claims and released an unverified list of names it says represent those killed. Some of the dead are believed to have been victims of misfired rockets by Palestinian terrorists.
On Tuesday evening, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the fighting as “complex hand-to-hand combat.”
Hagari said the troops fought heroically and courageously against terrorists. “This is a dangerous conflict. It comes at a price,” he said. “It is complex, but it is critical to our ability to achieve the war goals.”
IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo, October 2023 (Israeli Defense Forces)
Israel has been vague about its operations in Gaza, but residents and spokesmen for terror groups say troops appear to be trying to take control of the two main north-south roads, The Associated Press reported.
The overnight strikes and power outage came hours after massive explosions leveled parts of the Jabaliya residential area on the outskirts of Gaza City. The IDF later confirmed that it was a targeted attack on a Hamas commander and infrastructure of the terrorist group’s central Jabaliya battalion. The IDF said shortly afterward that it had killed the commander of Hamas’ Central Jabaliya Battalion, Ibrahim Biari, in an airstrike that was part of a “large-scale attack” on Hamas operatives and Central Jabaliya Battalion infrastructure be.
The military said the attacks, which killed Biari and several other terrorists, led to the collapse of underground terror tunnels and caused several nearby buildings to collapse.
According to the IDF, Biari was one of the Hamas commanders responsible for ordering members of the terror group’s elite Nukhba forces to invade Israel on October 7.
The IDF also reiterated its call for residents of the area to “move south for their safety.”
Palestinians inspect the damage to buildings apparently destroyed by Israeli airstrikes on the Jabaliya refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, Oct. 31, 2023 (AP Photo/Abdul Qader Sabbah)
Hamas claimed multiple Israeli airstrikes leveled several apartment blocks and the Hamas-run health ministry said 50 people were killed, a claim that could not be independently verified. Initially a death toll of 400 was given.
According to the IDF, the Central Jabaliya Battalion had taken control of several civilian buildings in the area and many of those killed in the attacks were Hamas operatives.
Nonetheless, the attacks sparked sharp rebukes from Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia “strongly condemned” the attack on Wednesday and decried the “inhumane targeting” of Israeli occupation forces on the site.
On Tuesday, Egypt and Jordan expressed similarly strong condemnations, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was “completely crazy” and accused it of crimes against humanity.
In recent days, Israeli troops have advanced from the north and east toward the outskirts of Gaza City. Israeli officials say Hamas’s military infrastructure, including hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, is concentrated in the city, which was home to about 650,000 people before the war.
An IDF soldier prays while standing next to artillery shells at a position along the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel on November 1, 2023 (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
An estimated 800,000 Palestinians have fled south from Gaza City and other northern areas after repeated Israeli calls for evacuation, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north, including many who left the country and later returned because Israel also carries out airstrikes in the south.
Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas’ infrastructure and has vowed to eliminate the entire terror group that dominates the Gaza Strip. It says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates, while trying to minimize civilian casualties and urging civilians to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.
Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report