The IDF announced on Tuesday that four soldiers in the IDF's Multidimensional Unit were killed in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.
They entered a building to clean and scan the area in the Palestinian city at 3 a.m. and there was an explosion in that area.
Aspects of the incident are still under probe or gag order.
Among the four was Captain Yehonatan (Joni) Keren, 22, from the moshav Moledet in Lower Galilee.
Other three soldiers were Staff-Sergeants
The other three soldiers all held the rank of Staff-Sergeant. The IDF named them as 20-year-old Nisim Meytal from Hadera, 21-year-old Aviv Gilboa from Halamish, in the West Bank, and 22-year-old Naor Haimov from Rosh HaAyin near Petah Tikva.
Gilboa leaves behind his parents and five siblings. Binyamin Regional Council Head Israel Gantz said "We continue to pay an unbearably heavy price. Aviv belongs to a deep-rooted and valuable family. We all bow our heads and salute Aviv who fell bravely in battle, and hug his beloved family." Gilboa and his family moved to Halamish after they left the Amona outpost in the central West Bank.
Additionally, another officer in the unit was severely wounded and was evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on the deaths of the four soldiers, saying "My wife Sara and I send our condolences from the bottom of our hearts to the families of the brave IDF soldiers, the heroes of Israel who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip - all young men with dreams and ambitions and beloved by their friends.
"The pain of the families is all of our pain, and we will not be able to fill the void they left in the hearts of their loved ones and the entire nation."
The deaths of the four soldiers came as the IDF has been alluding to potentially wrapping up a nearly month long fourth reinvasion of Jabalya and other parts of northern Gaza.
The IDF has said that it recently completed an operation in which it killed dozens of Hamas forces in Jabalya as well as arrested some other dozens.
Overall for the whole month, the IDF views the Jabalya and northern Gaza operation as having significantly weakened Hamas.
However, there are still unclear questions about what Israel’s overall strategy is in Gaza.
When the reinvasion started in early October, Israel said it was not completely clearing northern Gaza of all Palestinians as recommended by former national security council chief Brig. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland and hundreds of mid-level reservist officers.
At the same time, the IDF has been emphasizing how it has moved tens of thousands of Palestinians out of northern Gaza into southern Gaza.
When confronted with the large movements of civilians to southern Gaza, the IDF denied to the Jerusalem Post that this was part of the Eiland plan, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the same denial to the US government.
Still, the US threatened Israel with an arms embargo if Palestinian civilian life and aid in northern Gaza was not stabilized within a matter of weeks.
In addition, there has been no word of any kind about Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other Gazan terror groups since Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was killed on October 16.