From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
IDF announces names of 4 soldiers killed in Rafah explosion
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Four Israeli soldiers were killed by a blast in a booby-trapped building in southern Gaza’s Rafah yesterday, the military announces.
The slain soldiers are named as:
Maj. Tal Pshebilski Shaulov, 24, from Gedera.
Staff Sgt. Eitan Karlsbrun, 20, from Modiin.
Sgt. Almog Shalom, 19, from Hamadia.
Sgt. Yair Levin, 19, from Givat Harel.
They all served in the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit. Shalom and Levin were still in their training period, and Shaulov was their company commander. Levin is the grandson of former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin.
According to an initial IDF probe, the troops had thrown an explosive inside a suspicious home in Rafah’s Shaboura neighborhood, in an attempt to trigger any possible traps, and entered after there was no immediate blast. As two soldiers entered the three-story building, it exploded, causing part of it to collapse on some of the soldiers. Inside the home, the IDF later found a tunnel shaft, indicating the building likely belonged to a Hamas operative.
In addition to the four slain troops, another seven were wounded, including five seriously, according to the IDF.
Their deaths bring the toll of slain troops in the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and amid operations along the border to 299.
