IDF says soldier killed in fighting in northern Gaza on Friday
IAF strikes rocket launcher in humanitarian zone; World Central Kitchen halts activities in enclave after employees killed, with one revealed to have participated in Oct. 7 attacks
An IDF soldier was killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, the military announced Saturday, bringing the IDF’s death toll in the ground operation in and around the enclave to 382.
The slain soldier was named as Staff Sgt. Zamir Burke, 20, a heavy equipment squad commander in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, from Beit Shemesh.
Another soldier was seriously wounded in the same incident, the IDF said.
According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were hit by anti-tank fire launched at the armored D-9 bulldozer they were operating.
Separately in southern Gaza, the military said a soldier with the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion was seriously wounded in fighting.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force on Saturday struck a rocket launching site within the Strip’s Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, the military said, adding that at the site were armed launchers primed for an attack on southern Israel.
The IDF released a video showing a rocket flying uncontrolled out of the site following the drone strike, saying it used a precision munition, aerial surveillance and other intelligence to mitigate civilian harm.
כלי טיס של חיל האוויר, בהכוונה מודיעינית של אמ"ן ופיקוד הדרום, תקפו והשמידו מוקדם יותר היום אתר שיגור חמוש ומוכן לשיגור במרחב ההומניטרי דיר אל בלח, שכוון לעבר דרום הארץ>> pic.twitter.com/nM4avMZPlD
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 30, 2024
In a separate incident on Saturday, medics and Gaza emergency services said dozens of people were killed or wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a multi-story house in northern Gaza’s Tal Al-Zaatar. The IDF said it was not aware of any attack in the area but was looking into the report.
The emergency services added that many casualties were believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Aid group pauses operations
World Central Kitchen said Saturday it was “pausing operations in Gaza at this time” after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis was reported to kill five people, including three WCK workers.
The IDF said the target was one of the WCK workers, stating that he was a terrorist who had participated in the October 7 massacre and was employed by the aid group. It did not comment on the other alleged deaths.
In a statement, WCK said that it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack” and did not confirm any deaths.
The army noted that the targeted vehicle was unmarked and its movement was not coordinated for transporting aid.
According to the IDF, the terrorist, Ahed Qadih, participated in the massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which saw 46 people killed and 71 taken hostage.
“The terrorist was under intelligence surveillance for a long period, and was struck following reliable information about his location in real-time,” the IDF said, adding that “according to current information, it is not possible to link the terrorist to a specific abduction attempt” from the October 7 massacre.
In April, seven WCK aid workers, six of whom were foreigners, were killed in an Israeli strike that led Israel to apologize and fire two officers involved in the incident, saying the strike on the vehicle had been a grave error.
