IDF: Soldier dies of wounds sustained fighting in northern Gaza last week

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Staff Sgt. Betzalel Zvi Kovach. (Israel Defense Forces)
Staff Sgt. Betzalel Zvi Kovach. (Israel Defense Forces)

An Israeli soldier seriously wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip last week has succumbed to his wounds, the military announces.

The slain soldier is named as Staff Sgt. Betzalel Zvi Kovach, 20, of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, from Jerusalem.

Kovach was seriously wounded in Beit Hanoun on May 22, the IDF says. Another three soldiers were killed that day in the town in northern Gaza, two in a Hamas sniper attack and one by an explosive device in a building.

His death brings the toll of slain troops in the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations on the border to 287.

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