Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Gaza on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces says, in one of the deadliest single incidents involving its troops since October 7.
The IDF said the incident was still under review but preliminary findings suggested an armored vehicle carrying soldiers as part of a convoy had been hit by an explosion at around 5.15 a.m. local time during an operation targeting “terrorist infrastructure” in the northwestern part of Tal al-Sultan.
“According to the information we have at this point one of the engineering vehicles in the convoy was involved in an explosion that was apparently caused by explosive devices planted in the area or as a result of anti-tank missile fire,” IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told a press conference Saturday.
The IDF is also investigating whether the initial explosion was compounded when explosive materiel aboard the vehicle detonated.
“The current assessment is that the ‘Nemera’ armored vehicle got hit as a result of an explosion of a side bomb. In addition, on the vehicle there were engineering tools that include explosive materiel. The explosion was significant and may have been caused by the ignition of the explosive materiel on the vehicle. All this is not supposed to happen and therefore the incident is being examined,” the IDF said.
So great was the damage that it was difficult to identify and locate the bodies of those killed, the Israeli military added. (CNN)
The post Eight Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza appeared first on DailyNews.