7 Israeli soldiers killed in explosion in Khan Younis, Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that seven Israeli soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion in southern Gaza on Tuesday (June 24) local time. It is reported that their armored vehicle was bombed. The Times of Israel reported this information in a report on Wednesday (June 25).

According to the IDF, the soldiers were stationed near Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza, when their armored vehicle was hit by an explosion and caught fire. So far, the Israeli army has released the names of six soldiers. They are between 19 and 21 years old. The name of the seventh soldier has not yet been released. The six soldiers who died are;

1. Lieutenant Matan Shai Yashinovsky (21), Kfar Yona.

2. Staff Sergeant Ronel Ben-Moshe (20), Rehovot.

3. Staff Sergeant Niv Radia (20), Elyakin.

4. Sergeant Ronen Shapiro (19), Mazkeret Batia.

5. Sergeant Shahar Manoav (21), Ashkelon.

6. Sergeant Mayan Baruch Perlstein (20), Eshhar.

The IDF soldiers killed were all serving in the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion. The IDF’s initial investigation revealed that a Palestinian terrorist planted a bomb in the Puma armored engineering vehicle in which the soldiers were traveling while traveling in Khan Yunis. The explosion caused the vehicle to catch fire and all efforts to extinguish it failed. All the soldiers in the fire were killed. The burning vehicle was later towed from Gaza.

In another incident on the same day, Israeli soldiers were attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade. The IDF confirmed that two soldiers were injured, but there were no reports of fatalities.