IDF says 14 soldiers killed over weekend amid heavy fighting in south, central Gaza
153 troops killed since start of ground op; military says chief of supplies for Hamas armed wing killed in Rafah strike; 30,000 explosive weapons captured since start of war
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday the names of nine soldiers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip throughout the previous day, bringing the number of troops killed over the entire weekend to 14, as the military deepened its offensive against the Hamas terror group.
Five soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps and a paramedic were killed by an anti-tank guided missile that hit a Namer armored engineering vehicle they were in, in southern Gaza. Another four were killed by bombs in two separate incidents during battles with gunmen in central Gaza.
The deaths bring the number of troops killed since the start of the ground operation in late October to 153.
In all, 10 soldiers were killed on Saturday. They were identified as:
- Staff Sgt. David Bogdanovskyi, 19, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Haifa.
- Staff Sgt. Orel Bashan, 20, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Haifa.
- Staff Sgt. Gal Hershko, 20, a squad commander in the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Yiftah.
- Staff Sgt. Roy Elias, 21, of the Combat Engineering Corps’s 603rd Battalion, from Tzofar.
- Staff Sgt. Itamar Shemen, 21, a paramedic in the 36th Division, from Lapid.
- Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Issachar Farhi, 30, a combat medic in the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Herzliya.
- Master Sgt. (res.) Eliyahu Meir Ohana, 28, of the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Haifa.
- Sgt. First Class (res.) Elyassaf Shoshan, 23, of the 646th Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Jerusalem.
- Sgt. First Class (res.) Ohad Ashur, 23, of the 646th Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Kfar Yona.
- Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak, 22, a team commander in the Nahal Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Haifa.
The IDF had announced Butzhak’s death earlier, along with four soldiers killed on Friday: Staff Sgt. Nir Rafael Kananian, 20; Staff Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, 20; Master Sgt. (res.) Shay Termin, 26; and Warrant Officer (res.) Alexander Shpits, 41.
Commenting on the mounting IDF death toll, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s cabinet meeting that “The war is taking a very heavy toll on us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting.”
“Our forces have so far eliminated many thousands of terrorists, and we will continue with all our strength until the end, until victory, until we have completed all our goals,” the premier declared.
Battles raged over the weekend as the IDF continued intense fighting in south Gaza’s Khan Younis, where some of Hamas’s leadership is thought to be hiding.
The military announced Saturday it had killed a Hamas official in charge of supply for the terror group’s military wing in an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah, as it continued efforts to dismantle Hamas’s command structure.
The IDF said Hassan al-Atrash was responsible for the supply and production of weapons for Hamas, as well as smuggling weapons from various countries into the Strip. The military published footage of the strike.
It added that al-Atrash was also involved in supplying weapons to terrorists in the West Bank.
Palestinian media reported Friday that at least three people were killed in the airstrike.
בהמשך לחיסול אתמול ברפיח, צה״ל ושב״כ חיסלו באמצעות מטוס קרב את חסן אטרש, אחראי על סחר, ייצור והצטיידות באמצעי לחימה של הזרוע הצבאית של חמאס.
בנוסף לקח חלק בהברחת אמצעי לחימה ממדינות שונות לרצועת עזה. בתקופה האחרונה היה מעורב בהברחת אמצעי לחימה גם ליהודה ושומרון>> pic.twitter.com/7fo6o44Ixa— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 23, 2023
In his evening address Saturday, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military has further expanded operations in southern Gaza, particularly against Hamas’s underground infrastructure.
“Entering new Hamas strongholds, troops are engaged in heavy battles,” Hagari said.
In the Khan Younis area, Hagari said, the IDF was working “very intensively” against the terror group’s tunnels. “We’ve expanded combat engineering forces there… and we will expand the [99th] Division’s abilities [further] in the coming days,” he stated.
He said that so far, ground forces have destroyed or seized some 30,000 items of explosive weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and RPGs, across the Gaza Strip.
In the area of the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, Hagari said troops had found a cache of weapons in a school, including many explosive devices, rockets and “strategic” capabilities belonging to Hamas’s naval forces, which he stated could have been used against Israeli Navy vessels.
The IDF also released footage obtained from the body camera of a Hamas operative who planned to attack Israeli military engineering vehicles, showing him being killed by troops.
The IDF said troops of the elite Egoz unit operating in the Khan Younis area spotted the gunman approaching the forces and opened fire.
After scanning the area, the body of the terror operative was found, along with his camera.
The IDF releases footage obtained from a body camera of a Hamas operative who planned to attack Israeli military engineering vehicles in the Gaza Strip, showing him being killed by troops.
The IDF says troops of the elite Egoz unit operating in the Khan Younis area spotted the… pic.twitter.com/3cBJDTyflU
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 23, 2023
Despite the extensive operations, Hamas has still shown it is capable of firing rockets into Israel, carrying out launches on Saturday evening toward Gaza border communities and Ashkelon, triggering sirens. No injuries were reported in the salvos.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz toured the northern Strip and held an assessment with military officials Saturday.
The visit by the ministers to Beit Hanoun came after the IDF Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade assumed responsibility for the area following its full capture by ground forces.
“I am sure that [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is sitting in his bunker watching TV, he sees what Beit Hanoun looks like,” Gallant said in a video statement.
“This is also true for the Hamas commander who is now fighting against our forces in Khan Younis; he understands how the story ended for the Beit Hanoun battalion,” Gallant added.
Gantz, in his remarks, issued a warning to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, which has been carrying out daily attacks on northern Israel.
“This campaign is one of the most important that the State of Israel has seen. It serves both the residents of the south and radiates to other arenas,” he said.
“I am sure that [Hassan] Nasrallah is looking at what is happening here [in Gaza] and does not want it to happen to him [in Lebanon],” Gantz added.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi also held an assessment, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, hailing the “impressive offensive” but adding that “we still have a lot of work to do.”
The IDF said Halevi held the assessment with Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, Commander of the 98th Division Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, and Commander of the Givati Brigade Col. Liron Betito.
Israel launched its vast military operation against Hamas following the terror group’s murderous invasion of southern Israel on October 7, in which it killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 240 hostages into Gaza. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 20,000 people have been killed in the Strip during the war, an unverified figure. Israel says it assesses troops have killed some 8,000 terror operatives. Another 1,000 Hamas terrorists were killed in Israel on October 7, during the terror group’s onslaught.
