IDF commander among nine soldiers killed on deadliest day of campaign for Israeli military
Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in a series of ambushes and a double bombing in the single biggest loss of life for the country’s armed forces since the start of the ground invasion of Gaza.
The soldiers were killed in what appeared to be a well co-ordinated surprise attack in the Shujaiyah neighbourhood in the north of the Gaza Strip. The troops there were in an “advance stage” of sweeping up the area and dismantling Hamas capabilities, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The deaths late on Tuesday night included the most senior Israeli commander killed so far, and come as Israel faces intense international and domestic pressure to wind down its military campaign, which has killed some 15,000 people.
Patience is running thin among key allies, such as the US, while families of hostages held in Gaza are also demanding a ceasefire. The death toll of Israeli soldiers passed 100 this week.
Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, said that a “ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the terrorist organisation Hamas” and that Israel would keep fighting if deserted by Western allies.
“Israel will continue the war against Hamas with or without international support,” Mr Cohen said.
Gunfire and improvised explosives
On Tuesday night, the Israeli troops came under attack from gunfire and improvised explosives as they attempted to clear a building complex of Hamas fighters.
The military described Shujaiyah as a “compact area where Hamas gunmen are believed to be operating inside civilian buildings with an extensive network of underground tunnels underneath”.
Hamas is believed to have used video surveillance and observation points around the area to trap a group of Israelis before attacking them from two directions.
The group lost communication with other troops, which made the army fear they had been abducted to nearby tunnels.
Other troops, including Lt Col Tomber Grinberg, commander of the Golani Brigades’ 13th battalion, are understood to have gone to their aid, only to land in another Hamas ambush.
Three different groups of soldiers appear to have been ambushed in the fighting, which lasted at least two hours.
“The commanders in the field showed bravery and composure, leading from the front and rushing to aid the wounded soldiers,” the IDF said.
Israel has not announced the number of Hamas fighters killed in fighting in Shujaiyah but the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper put the number at 350.
‘A heavy, painful toll’
The IDF now believes the command of Hamas’s Shujaiyah battalion is largely disrupted, and Hamas is operating in the area with smaller, less organised squads.
Speaking about the ambushes, Benny Gantz, a member of the coalition government, called the ground operation in Gaza “Israel’s second war of independence” and lamented that it was “taking a heavy, painful” toll.
The casualties included Col Itzhak Ben Basat, the most senior officer to have been killed in Gaza to date, as well as Lt Col Grinberg.
Lt Col Grinberg was among a group of soldiers who led a rescue mission at the southern kibbutz of Kfar Azza overrun by Hamas on Oct 7. His battalion was one of the hardest hit during the Hamas attack, losing 41 soldiers that day.
He is survived by a wife and a four-year-old daughter, who was previously seen in a social media video, pointing to a picture of “Daddy” on the front page of a newspaper.
The officer told Channel 13 last month: “I have a lot to tell her. I hope she’s not mad. I haven’t been home for a month.”
The deaths of Israeli troops come after Joe Biden warned Israel was losing international backing because of its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza.
The US president also told donors at a fundraising event that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s president, should drop the hard-liners in his government and reconsider his opposition to a Palestinian state.
Mr Netanyahu admitted to disagreements with the US on the future of Gaza on Tuesday, saying he would not allow the territory to become ‘Hamas-stan’ or ‘Fatah-stan’.
The White House has been pushing for the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, to take control of Gaza once the war is over.
On Tuesday night, the UN overwhelmingly voted in favour of an immediate ceasefire.
