IDF volunteer soldier killed in south Gaza fighting; 100 gunmen killed in Khan Younis
Cpl. (res.) Moti Rave, 37, had license for heavy machinery from civilian construction work, joined army amid war to operate D9 bulldozer
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting against the Hamas terror group in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Thursday, the military announced Friday, as troops pressed on with operations across the Strip.
The slain soldier was named by the Israel Defense Forces as Cpl. (res.) Moti Rave, 37, from the community of Shani, also known as Livne, which straddles the southern West Bank border.
Rave served as an engineering vehicle operator in the Givati Infantry Brigade.
He had volunteered in the military through the so-called Shlav Bet track, in which older people who didn’t previously serve have a shortened basic training before being sent to serve in specialized roles.
Rave worked in construction and had a license for heavy machinery. He was therefore sent to operate an engineering vehicle in the military.
According to an initial probe, Rave was killed by anti-tank fire that hit a D9 armored bulldozer he was operating in Rafah. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
He is survived by his wife and two young children.
Eliram Azoulai, the head of the Har Hebron Regional Council, said Rave “always sought to volunteer, reach out and be where he was needed.”
His death brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in other military operations along the border with the Strip to 330. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Meanwhile, the IDF said Friday that more than 100 terror operatives had been killed by troops with the 98th Division during a new operation in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
The offensive in Khan Younis was launched on Monday after the IDF said it had identified Hamas terrorists regrouping there, three months after the IDF withdrew from the city in southern Gaza. The offensive was also aimed at enabling an operation on Wednesday to recover the bodies of five slain hostages.
The IDF said that Israeli Air Force drones directed by the 98th Division also struck seven mortar-launching cells in Khan Younis in the past day.
Further south, in Rafah — where Rave was killed — the IDF said troops with the 162nd Division killed numerous terror operatives as well as located tunnels and weaponry, including long-range rocket launchers, in the previous 24 hours.
Also in Rafah, the military said an IAF drone strike killed two gunmen spotted by troops of the 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit. A short while later, another terror operative was spotted trying to take a gun from one of the dead gunmen. The IDF said a second strike killed the additional operative along with another gunman.
Meanwhile, IAF fighter jets, combat helicopters and drones struck some 45 targets across Gaza over the past day, the military said.
The targets included cells of gunmen, tunnel shafts and buildings used by terror groups, as well as other infrastructure, including rocket launchers previously used to attack the southern city of Beersheba, according to the IDF.
War erupted on October 7 when Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. The estimated 3,000 terrorists who burst through the boundary also abducted 251 people who were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military offensive to destroy Hamas, topple its Gaza regime, and free the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
