Four soldiers killed in Rafah bomb attack — IDF

Four IDF soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in southern Gaza’s Rafah this morning, the military announces.

The slain soldiers are named as:

Maj. Omri Chai Ben Moshe, 26, from Tzafria.

Lt. Eran Shelem, 23, from Ramat Yohanan.

Lt. Eitan Avner Ben Itzhak, 22, from Har Bracha.

Lt. Ron Arieli, 20, from Hadera.

All four served with the Bahad 1 officers’ school’s Dekel Battalion. Ben Moshe was a company commander, while the other three troops were cadets and posthumously promoted to lieutenant.

According to an initial IDF probe, the incident took place during operations in Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood at around 9:30 a.m., as a D9 armored bulldozer was clearing a route while two Humvees drove behind it.

One of the Humvees then moved to the side of the road, where it was hit by an explosive device.

The blast killed the four soldiers and wounded three others, including one seriously and two moderately.

The military is still investigating what type of explosive was used, how it was activated, and when it was placed there.

While Rafah has been largely cleared of Hamas operatives and terror infrastructure, the IDF believes there are several dozen more operatives still there, mostly in the Jenina area. Earlier in the day, before the attack, different troops of the Bahad 1 school had three engagements with terror operatives, according to the army.