IDF announces 10 soldiers killed, at least 28 wounded in southern Lebanon battles

Ten Israeli soldiers were killed and at least 28 more wounded to varying degrees amid heavy battles against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday and Friday.

The soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in just over 24 hours. Since the start of the ground offensive in Lebanon, 27 soldiers have fallen amid the heavy fighting.

In the most recent incident, five reservists serving in the 8th Hazaken Brigade’s 89th Battalion were killed, and 19 others were wounded, with four in serious condition, when a Hezbollah rocket struck a supply point at a building in a southern Lebanese village.

The soldiers who perished were identified as Maj. (res.) Dan Maori (43) from Beit Yitzhak-Sha’ar Hefer, Cpt. (res.) Alon Safrai (28) from Jerusalem, Warrant Officer (res.) Omri Lotan (47) from Bat Hefer, Warrant Officer (res.) Guy Idan (51) from Shomrat, and Master Sgt. (res.) Tom Segal (28) from Ein HaBesor.

According to Army Radio, the first results of the IDF’s investigation of the incident say that the 89th battalion had been attacking a village in the eastern part of the front for several days.

Late on Thursday, Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at the area of IDF operations in the village, one of which hit a building where a logistics convoy had just brought a new round of supplies for the troops in the field.

A total of 24 fighters were injured, including the five who later died, four who sustained serious wounds, seven in moderate and eight in good condition.

“The IDF’s logistics personnel, along with the medical and maintenance personnel, enter the combat arenas, operate under fire, reach the depths of the forces in the field, and work shoulder to shoulder with the fighters to preserve the functional continuity of the IDF,” said Army Radio’s military correspondent, Doron Kadosh.

“More than once they are also hit by terrorist fire, as happened in the incident tonight.”

On Thursday, the IDF announced that Sgt. First Class Gai Ben-Haroosh, a commander in the Oketz K-9 special unit from Pardes Hanna-Karkur, fell during combat. In the same firefight, another soldier was seriously wounded.

In addition, the army said one officer was seriously wounded by an anti-tank missile and a reserve officer was seriously injured during a rocket impact near Malkia in northern Israel.

On Wednesday evening, four soldiers of the 2nd Carmeli Brigade were killed and three were seriously wounded in an ambush in southern Lebanon.

They were named as Chief Warrant Officer (res.) Mordechai Haim Amoyal, Warrant Officer (res.) Shmuel Harari, Staff-Sergeant-Major (res.) Shlomo Aviad Nayman, and Sergeant-Major (res.) Shuvael Ben-Natal.

Their unit was operating in an area where Hezbollah built its combat positions into the thick undergrowth in the western sector of the front, Army Radio reported.

A force of Hezbollah terrorists surprised the IDF soldiers by exiting an underground shaft, opening fire and throwing grenades at them.

In addition to the four soldiers who were killed, another six soldiers were wounded, with three in serious and 3 in moderate condition. They were evacuated to hospitals during a complex operation under fire in difficult terrain, both with helicopters and ground vehicles.

“The IDF estimates that the terrorists were apparently killed in the exchange of fire because, after the encounter with our forces, the fire stopped,” said Kadosh.

“The entire nation is grieving the death of five of our fighters from the 89th battalion in the "Hazaken" Brigade, who fell tonight in South Lebanon,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Friday.

After reports of the first incident on Thursday, Netanyahu stated: “The people of Israel are grieving the death of the four fighters of the Carmeli Reserve Brigade.”

“Brave warriors who defended the State of Israel with their bodies, and in their struggle in southern Lebanon against terrorists, sacrificed the most precious of all for our security.”

“Our hearts are with those injured in the incident, and we pray for their speedy recovery,” Netanyahu said.