The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published the names of five of the eight Israeli fighters who died during an explosion that occurred yesterday morning, Saturday, in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
It is the deadliest incident for Israel Defense Forces troops since January in the coastal enclave.
The fallen soldiers were identified as:
Sergeant Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21, from Beit Shemesh.
Sergeant Itay Amar, 19, originally from Kochav Yair.
Sergeant Stanislav Kostarev, 21, from Ashdod.
Sergeant Or Blumovitz, 20 years old, originally from Pardes Hanna-Karkur.
Sergeant Oz Yeshaya Gruber, 20, from Tal Menashe.
According to a preliminary investigation, the soldiers of the 601st Battalion of the Corps of Combat Engineers died when the Namer-type battle tank in which they were traveling was attacked by an explosive device or an anti-tank missile. There were no survivors in the attack.
Yesterday, the IDF released the name of one of the fallen soldiers: Captain Wassem Mahmoud, 23, deputy company commander of the 601st Battalion of the Corps of Engineers. Mahmoud was a native of the Druze village of Beit Jann in the Galilee.
The names of two other remaining soldiers will be published later today.
