The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Friday the deaths of two more soldiers who were killed in action during the ongoing ground operation in the Gaza Strip. The two soldiers were identified as Sgt. Yosef Cohen, 22, from Jerusalem, and Cpl. David Levi, 20, from Tel Aviv. They were both members of the Golani Brigade, an elite infantry unit that has been at the forefront of the fighting against Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups.
The IDF said the two soldiers were killed on Thursday night in separate incidents in the northern and southern parts of Gaza. Sgt. Cohen was killed by a sniper fire while operating near the border fence, and Cpl. Levi was killed by an anti-tank missile that hit his armored vehicle. The families of the fallen soldiers have been notified, and their funerals will be held on Saturday.
The deaths of Cohen and Levi bring the total number of IDF soldiers killed since the start of the ground operation on October 27 to 133. Of those, at least 20 were killed by friendly fire or other accidents, according to the IDF⁶. The ground operation, dubbed Operation Protective Edge, aims to destroy the network of tunnels and rocket launchers used by Hamas and other terrorist groups to attack Israel. The IDF said it has uncovered and destroyed over 200 tunnels and eliminated over 1,000 terrorists since the operation began.
The fighting in Gaza has also claimed the lives of over 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations. Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields and launching rockets from densely populated areas. Hamas has denied the allegations and blamed Israel for the high civilian casualties. The UN and other international actors have called for an immediate ceasefire and a political solution to end the conflict, but the efforts have so far failed to produce a lasting truce.
