Eight soldiers killed in Rafah explosion, IDF announces

Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast in southern Gaza’s Rafah this morning, the military announces, in what marks the deadliest incident for the IDF in the Strip since January.

Only one of the soldiers is named: Cpt. Wassem Mahmoud, 23, a deputy company commander in the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion from Beit Jann.

The families of the other seven soldiers have been notified, and their names are due to be released later.

According to an initial IDF probe, the troops were all killed inside a Namer armored combat engineering vehicle (CEV).

The soldiers had been driving in a convoy at around 5 a.m. on Saturday following an overnight offensive against Hamas in the northwestern areas of Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, during which troops under the 401st Armored Brigade killed some 50 gunmen, according to the IDF.

The convoy was heading to buildings captured by the army, for the troops to rest following the overnight operation.

The Namer CEV was the fifth or sixth vehicle in the convoy, and at some point, it was hit by a major explosion. It was not immediately clear if it was a bomb planted ahead of time or if Hamas operatives had approached the vehicle with an explosive device and directly placed it on the CEV.

The military was also investigating the possibility that explosives stored on the outside of the CEV contributed to the massive blast. Normally, the mines and other explosives stored on the outside of a CEV would not manage to cause injuries to troops inside if they detonated.

There was no gunfire amid the incident, and the vehicle was not at a standstill when the blast occurred, the probe found.

Their deaths bring the toll of slain IDF soldiers in the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border to 307. A police officer was killed in a hostage rescue operation last week, and a civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.

The deadliest incident in Gaza occurred in January, during which 21 soldiers were killed in a blast following Hamas RPG fire that collapsed two buildings.