Two Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers were killed and two others injured on Saturday in an explosion inside a booby-trapped tunnel shaft in Rafah, southern Gaza, Israeli local media reports quoting IDF officials on Sunday.
The fallen soldiers were identified as Captain Noam Ravid, 23, from Sha’arei Tikva, and Staff Sergeant Yaly Seror, 20, from Omer. Both served in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.
According to preliminary findings from the IDF, the Yahalom troops—working alongside the Golani Brigade—were examining the entrance of a tunnel located within a building when the explosion occurred.
Their deaths raise the total number of Israeli military casualties in the ongoing ground operations in Gaza and along its border to 416 since the offensive began.
Among the wounded, one soldier is reported to be in serious condition, while the other sustained moderate injuries.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a reservist from the Jerusalem Brigade’s 7007th Battalion was seriously injured during operations in northern Gaza. The military is still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Also that day, two soldiers from the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion were injured—one moderately, one lightly—in an explosion at a military encampment near Gaza City’s eastern Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods.
An initial IDF inquiry suggests the blast may have been caused by a prematurely detonated tank shell during firing. Another possibility under review is that a mortar round struck the area.
