From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 18, 2023
Golani soldiers destroy Gaza statue commemorating deadly 2014 attack on APC
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Troops of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion have captured the so-called Palestine Square in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, and destroyed a Hamas monument there commemorating a deadly attack on an armored personnel carrier during the 2014 Gaza War.
“We are here, the 13th Battalion, at the place where the terrorist organization Hamas erected a statue glorifying the disaster that happened to the battalion in [Operation] Protective Edge. We are sending a clear message to Hamas: Wherever such a statue is erected, we will come and destroy it,” says the new commander of the 13th Battalion, Lt. Col. Yuval Mazuz, in remarks provided by the IDF.
מפקד גדוד 13: ״אנחנו כאן, גדוד 13, במקום שבו ארגון הטרור חמאס הקימו פסל המפאר את האסון שקרה לגדוד בצוק איתן. אנחנו שולחים מסר ברור לחמאס: לכל מקום בו פסל כזה יוקם אנחנו נגיע ונשמיד אותו״ >> pic.twitter.com/TGpPfKRB56
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) December 18, 2023
In the 2014 war, seven Golani soldiers were killed when their APC was hit in fighting in Shejaiya. The remains of one of the seven, Sgt. Oron Shaul, were captured by Hamas and are still in its possession.
After the deadly incident, Hamas erected a monument of a large fist punching through an APC, holding three dog-tags, one of which has the name of Shaul.
The IDF says Golani’s 13th Battalion and troops of the 188th Armored Brigade captured the square today — from which Hamas also paraded released hostages several weeks ago — and destroyed the monument.
