Twelve IDF soldiers killed in three separate incidents, ten new soldiers named

12 IDF soldiers have been killed in three separate recent incidents, with 10 additional soldiers named on Sunday after two had been named already on Saturday.

Most of the soldiers were killed when an armored personnel carrier was blown up by Hamas, while there were two other separate incidents as well.

The ten newly announced soldiers included:

Staff-Sergeant Tzur Abraham, 22 from Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip. Abraham was an officer in the IDF’s classified Unit 504 interrogations unit.

Sgt. Shalom Menachem, 21 from Beit El, who fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21, from Beit Shemesh, a soldier in Battalion 601, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Sgt. Itay Amar, 19, from Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal, a soldier in Battalion 601, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

St.-Sgt. Stanislav Kostarev, 21, from Ashdod, a soldier in Battalion 601, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

St.-Sgt. Orr Blumovitz, 20, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur, a soldier in Battalion 601, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

St.-Sgt. Oz Yeshaia Gruber, 20, from Tal Menashe, a soldier in Battalion 601, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Sgt. Yakir Ya'akov Levi, 21, from Hafetz Haim, from the 601st Battalion, fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Capt. (res.) Eitan Koplovich, 28, from Jerusalem, a combat officer in the 129th Battalion, fell in combat in the northern Gaza Strip.

Chief Warrant Officer (res.) Elon Waiss, 49, from Psagot, a soldier in the 129th Battalion, fell in combat in the northern Gaza Strip.

One of the incidents in the southern Gaza Strip also led to the death of Capt. Wassem Mahmoud, whose death was announced earlier on Saturday.

The IDF also announced on Saturday that Sgt. Yair Roitman succumbed to his wounds after being wounded in the explosion of a booby-trapped building on June 10, 2024, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza.

Different scenarios examined at this time 

Regarding the main incident, two possibilities are being examined. The first is that an anti-tank missile hit the armored personnel carrier (APC) holding the soldiers. The second possibility is that the APC hit a powerful explosive device.

In either case, there is also a probe into whether the attack may have become worse by igniting explosives which the IDF fighters were transporting within the vehicle.

Since such a situation has happened before during the war, the IDF previously altered procedures to avoid a recurrence, bringing even greater scrutiny to the question of how such a double-explosion might have recurred.

Also, the IDF failed to catch or interrogate the terrorists who attacked.

The incident began on Friday night close to 12:00 a.m., with the attack by the 162nd Division on the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah.

In the attack carried out by the 401st Brigade, in which the 424th Battalion and 601st Battalion of the Engineering Corps also operated, 50 terrorists were killed.

At the end of the operation, the forces were positioned in the northwestern part of the neighborhood, where there were many terrorists.

At around 5:00 a.m., the IDF started moving its tanks and APCs between the houses that had been cleared out for troops to stay in.

The fighters were traveling in an APC on an axis that led to the building where they were supposed to stay. At around 05:15 a.m., the explosion occurred while the APC was in motion.

It was also noted that it was very difficult to access the APC that caught fire and resulted in a chain of explosions. After controlling the fire, forces began to tow the APC away. During the rescue operations, many drones were activated in the area to locate the fighters.

Head of Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan said that Gruber, a resident of the council, "dreamed of serving a significant service, to protect the State of Israel, the people and the land."

Dagan further added that Gruber's mother, Shira, said her son was "a great idealist, and added that she was sure that if they asked him even now if he would enter Gaza again, he would say he would enter, even though he knew he would be killed."

Meanwhile, a dispute erupted between the political and military leaders over whether a significant temporary humanitarian truce had been granted, and if so, who was responsible.