Nine IDF soldiers were killed in three incidents in Gaza on Monday, with eight soldiers wounded.
Six of the killed soldiers and most of the wounded came from an incident with explosive material near the partially underground and partially above-ground Hamas rocket manufacturing factory uncovered by the IDF at al-Bureij in central Gaza.
Israeli fire on a Gaza utility pole caused the blast inside a terror tunnel that led to the death of six IDF fighters on Tuesday, as per new details published on Tuesday evening by Israeli media.
A truck was bringing explosive material to soldiers operating near the partially underground and partially above-ground Hamas rocket manufacturing factory uncovered by the IDF at al-Bureij in central Gaza.
Israeli forces were going to use it to explode and destroy aspects of the Hamas manufacturing facility.
The incident, in which six soldiers were killed and a number wounded, occurred after an Israeli tank fired at what it identified as a suspicious terrorist target during operations across the Strip.
The tank fired two shells, one hitting its target and the other landing on the utility pole, causing an explosion around thirty minutes before planned and killing the soldiers.
There was another incident in Khan Yunis in which two soldiers died and a third incident elsewhere in which another soldier died.
The nine fallen soldiers
Four names were announced by the IDF early on Tuesday morning. They were:-Sgt. Roi Tal, 19 years old, from Kfar Yehoshua, a fighter in the 94th Battalion, Kfir Brigade, fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
-Maj. (res.) David Schwartz, 26 years old, from Elazar, a fighter in the 8219th Engineering Battalion, Haci Hash formation (551), was killed in battle in the south of the Gaza Strip.
-Maj. General (res.) Yakir Hexter, 26 years old, from Jerusalem, a fighter in the 8291 Engineering Battalion, Hace Hash formation (551), fell in battle in the south of the Gaza Strip.
-Maj. (ret.) Gavriel Bloom, 27 years old, from Beit Shemesh, a fighter in the divisional engineering team of the 36th division, fell in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip. Five further names were released on Tuesday afternoon by the IDF, bringing Tuesday's total of fallen soldiers to nine.-Maj. (res.) Amit Moshe Shahar, 25, from Ramat Yochanan, was a soldier in the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps, and fell in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip.
- Capt. (ret.) Denis Krokhmalov Veksler, 32, from Be'er Sheva, was a combat engineering officer in the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps, and was killed in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip.
- Capt. Ron Efrimi, 26, from Hod Hasharon, was a combat engineering officer in the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps, and was killed in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip.
- Maj. (res.) Roi Avraham Maimon, 24, from Afula, was a combat paramedic in the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps, fell in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip.
- Maj. (res.) Akiva Yasinskiy, 35, from Ramat Gan, was a soldier in the 8173 Engineering Battalion, the 'Etzioni' Brigade (6), who fell in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip.Bloom, and the five names released on Tuesday afternoon all died in the same incident in Gaza.