IDF soldier killed in Strip; Hamas-linked agency raises day’s Gazan death toll to 91
Army says Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak, 22, was killed by friendly fire in northern Gaza; UN says aid from few trucks that entered Gaza not distributed due to security concerns
Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak, 22, was killed fighting in northern Gaza on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces announced, as Hamas-linked authorities in the Strip said another 91 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes over the past day.
The IDF said Tuesday that an initial military investigation found that Chirak was killed by friendly fire.
According to the probe, combat engineers operating in northern Gaza under the 401st Armored Brigade located a tunnel shaft and were working to map it out ahead of its demolition. During the operation, another company was securing the surrounding area. Chirak, who was next to the tunnel, was hit by fire from the company securing the area, the investigation found.
Chirak served in the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion and was from the West Bank settlement of Harasha. His family was presented with the initial findings of the investigation, the military said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Monday that Israel would “take control” of the whole of Gaza as it intensified attacks across the territory, where aid trickled in for the first time in over two months after the easing of a total blockade.
With supply shipments blocked by Israel since March 2, the World Health Organization warned Gaza’s “two million people are starving.”
Israel, facing mounting criticism over the humanitarian crisis, announced it would let limited aid into Gaza and said the first five trucks entered Monday carrying supplies “including food for babies.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that “none of the aid has been picked up” at a designated zone as it was “already dark” and due to “security concerns, we cannot operate in those conditions.”
The leaders of Britain, France and Canada issued a harsh condemnation of Israel’s conduct of the war, slamming its “egregious actions” in Gaza, particularly the expanded offensive and the “wholly inadequate” resumption of aid.
They warned of “concrete actions” if Israel did not ease its stepped-up offensive. Netanyahu called their joint statement a “huge prize” for Hamas.
A group of 22 countries, including France, Britain, Canada, Japan and Australia, said in a joint statement that Gaza’s population “faces starvation” and “must receive the aid they desperately need.”
In southern Gaza, the Israeli military issued an evacuation call to Palestinians around Khan Younis city ahead of what it described as an “unprecedented attack.”
Gaza’s Hamas-linked civil defense agency said 91 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the territory on Monday.
Netanyahu, in a video posted on Telegram, said that “the fighting is intense and we are making progress.”
“We will take control of all the territory of the Strip,” he added.
Israel’s military said on Monday it had struck “160 terror targets” in Gaza over the past day.
The UN’s OHCHR rights office said Israel’s actions were “in defiance of international law and tantamount to ethnic cleansing.”
According to Israeli officials, the fresh offensive launched over the weekend would see the IDF “conquer” Gaza, raze the vast majority of buildings and retain the territory for the foreseeable future; attack Hamas and prevent it from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies; and move Palestinians from Gaza’s north to its south.
Hundreds of Gazans have been killed in Israeli strikes since the initial stages of the operation were launched on Friday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which says more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the war so far.
The tolls cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January, and another 1,600 terrorists inside the country during the October 7 onslaught, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
The Times of Israel Community.