Eight Israeli soldiers, including a captain, died this Saturday (15) in a “serious incident” during an operation in Rafah, in the extreme south of Gaza, as confirmed by the Army, on the day with the highest number of victims among the Israeli ranks since January.
The captain is Wassem Mahmoud, 23 years old, born in Beit Jann (northern Israel), and was deputy commander of the 601st Engineering Battalion of the Israeli Army.
“Another seven soldiers also died in this incident. Their families have been notified,” a military statement added.
It is the deadliest day for the Israeli Army since January 22, when 21 soldiers died when two buildings collapsed, in the deadliest incident since Israel launched the ground operation in the enclave.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, today claimed his death as “an ambush against enemy vehicles” that were in the Tal al-Sultan area, west of Rafah.
According to the Islamic terrorist group, they attacked a ‘Namer’ armored combat engineering vehicle using an Al Yassin 105 projectile, which set it on fire and killed the eight soldiers.
The Armed Forces, in turn, are also studying a possible explosion of mines that would be stored inside the vehicle — although these are normally loaded on the outside so that, in the event of a detonation, they would not harm the military —, according to reports from the newspaper Times of Israel.
Throughout the day, the Army launched numerous air strikes against different points in the east, center and west of the city, on the border with Egypt.