Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Soldier killed in Gaza fighting, marking IDF’s first Rafah fatality
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Sgt. Ira Yair Gispan, killed in the southern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces, marking the first fatality in the IDF’s push into Rafah.
The slain soldier is named as Sgt. Ira Yair Gispan, 19, from Petah Tikva. He served in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion.
Gispan’s death brings the IDF’s toll during its ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in operations on the border to 273.
The IDF began sending troops into the southern Gaza border city of Rafah last week in what it has described as a “precise” operation, with soldiers currently holding a relatively small area southeast of the crowded city.
