The IDF operating in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun<\/p>\n
Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in an explosion in northern Gaza on Monday, the military said, raising Israel\u2019s toll in over 15 months of fighting in the Strip to 407.<\/p>\n
The announcement and reports in Gaza of scores killed in Israeli airstrikes underlined the fierce fighting still taking place in the enclave, even as negotiators in Qatar were said to be nearing a deal that could end the war and free hostages held there since October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n
The slain troops were all serving with the Nahal Brigade\u2019s Reconnaissance Unit.<\/p>\n
They were named as\u00a0Cpt. Yair Yakov Shushan, 23, from Ma\u2019alot-Tarshiha; Staff Sgt. Yahav Hadar, 20, from Kfar Tavor; Staff Sgt. Guy Karmiel, 20, from Gedera; Staff Sgt. Yoav Feffer, 19, from Herzliya; and Staff Sgt. Aviel Wiseman, 20, from Poria.<\/p>\n
On Monday evening, the IDF said it had presented the families of the five soldiers with an initial probe of the deadly incident, which found that\u00a0the team of troops from the Nahal Brigade\u2019s Reconnaissance Unit had set out on Monday morning for a mission in the Beit Hanoun area.<\/p>\n
They were inside a building and preparing to use explosives for engineering activity when the explosives detonated. As a result of the blast, the building the troops were in collapsed, killing the five soldiers.<\/p>\n
The military said the cause of the explosion was still under investigation.<\/p>\n
Much of the heaviest fighting over the past several months has been in northern Gaza, where the IDF launched a fresh offensive in October to keep Hamas terrorists from regrouping.<\/p>\n