JERUSALEM, May 20 (NNN-MA’AN) – An Israeli soldier was killed during combat, in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military said, marking the first Israeli fatality since the launch of a major ground operation over the weekend.
The military identified the soldier as Sergeant Yosef Yehuda Chirak, 22, from the West Bank settlement of Harasha. He served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion. No further details were provided on the circumstances of his death.
Chirak’s death comes, as Israel intensifies its offensive in Gaza under “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” which began on Saturday.
In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said, it struck 160 targets across the enclave yesterday, including militant positions, anti-tank missile launchers, weapons depots, and military infrastructure. It also reported the destruction of a tunnel in southern Gaza and an airstrike on a building in Nuseirat, which it described as a Hamas command and control centre.
Gaza’s health ministry said, at least 136 Palestinian people were killed, in Israeli airstrikes over the past 24 hours, raising the Palestinian death toll to 53,475 since the war erupted on Oct 7, 2023.– NNN-MA’AN
