Soldier and cop killed in Gaza City fighting, as IDF prepares to ramp up offensive
Police officer Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane killed in exchange of fire in Shejaiya, tank platoon commander Cpt. Ido Voloch slain during rescue attempts
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
An Israeli soldier and a police officer were killed during fighting against Hamas in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood on Friday afternoon, the military and police announced Saturday.
The deadly incident came as the Israel Defense Forces said it was making preparations to significantly expand its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip if the hostage negotiations with the terror group continue to stall.
The slain soldier was named as Cpt. Ido Voloch, 21, a platoon commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion, from Jerusalem, and the police officer was named as Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane, of the Border Police’s Yamas covert unit.
According to an initial IDF probe, during operations in Shejaiya — about 1.5 kilometers deep inside Gaza — troops of the Jerusalem Reserve Infantry Brigade and members of the police’s Yamas unit set up an ambush in a building.
Terror operatives arrived at the ambush site, and the Israeli forces opened fire on them at around 4:40 p.m. During an exchange of fire with the operatives, the Yamas officer was killed.
Rescue forces were then dispatched to the scene to extract the troops at the ambush site. Fifteen minutes after the initial exchange of fire, an army Humvee that tried to reach the area was hit by RPG fire, and one soldier was moderately wounded.
Nearly an hour later, several IDF tanks, part of the rescue forces, came under RPG fire from the operatives in Shejaiya. At least five RPGs were launched at the tanks, one of which killed Voloch and lightly wounded another soldier.
An hour after that, two reservists of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 7007th Battalion were moderately wounded by RPG fire and light arms in the same area.
The IDF has been operating in the Shejaiya area to expand its buffer zone along the border with Gaza.
Also on Friday, four soldiers were wounded in a Hamas attack in the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF said that the soldiers were hit by explosive devices and light arms fire, and not RPG fire, as a preliminary investigation had stated.
One soldier was seriously wounded, one was listed in moderate condition, and two were lightly hurt.
The incident took place in the Philadelphi Corridor area, next to the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah. The IDF said the troops, some of whom were carrying out a logistics supply mission, returned fire after coming under attack.
Meanwhile, the military warned that as long as the hostage talks with Hamas fail to advance, its offensive against Hamas would intensify.
Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that if no hostage deal is reached soon, the military would launch a major offensive aimed at defeating Hamas.
The intensified offensive would see the military call up a large number of reservists and operate in new areas of Gaza, according to the IDF.
Three IDF divisions are currently operating in Gaza, in an offensive that the military has said is aimed at pressuring Hamas back into a hostage deal, and not destroying the terror group.
Also on Saturday, Hebrew-language media reported that Israel was considering setting up a new humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip, where Palestinians would be able to enter following a security screening.
The new zone would be set up in the Rafah area, south of the IDF’s new Morag Corridor, which bisects Rafah from Khan Younis and the rest of the Strip. The area is currently depopulated.
According to the Kan public broadcaster and i24news, the plan included setting up a tent city in the area and allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid there to Palestinians. Israel has halted the entry of aid to Gaza for over a month.
The delivery of the aid would likely be carried out by a private American security firm or other international bodies, as the IDF has said it is against tasking troops with handing out aid to Palestinians.
Since March 18, when Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, the IDF said it has struck over 1,800 targets in Gaza. Over the past 48 hours, 120 targets were hit, the military said Saturday.
The IDF also estimated that it has killed over 400 members of terror groups, including dozens of senior Hamas political officials and mid-level military wing commanders, during that time.
Over 2,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed hostilities there on March 18, out of more than 51,400 killed since the war there was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
The Hamas-run ministry said Saturday that some 50 Palestinians had been killed and another 100 were wounded over the previous 24 hours.
The figures cannot be independently verified, and do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January, and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught.
The onslaught saw thousands of terrorists storm southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. Fifty-nine hostages remain in Gaza, including the body of a soldier killed fighting in the 2014 war there.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 414. The toll includes two police officers and two Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
The Times of Israel Community.