Two Israeli Soldiers Killed in Battle With Hamas Gunmen, First IDF Losses Inside Gaza
Two Israeli soldiers were killed inside Gaza today as their reconnaissance unit came under fire from Hamas gunmen, reported Fox News’s Trey Yingst from southern Israel.
Fox anchor John Roberts kicked off the report by noting that satellite “images show Israeli tanks appearing to surround Gaza City from at least three sides. And breaking moments ago, we learned at least two Israeli soldiers have been killed today on the battlefield.”
“We are going to start with Trey, live in southern Israel. And Trey, you’ve been reporting all day today on significant airstrikes in Gaza. What are you seeing from where you are now?” Roberts added.
“Yeah. John, good afternoon. We’ll start with that breaking news. Fox News has learned two Israeli soldiers were killed today inside the Gaza Strip. Two others were wounded, all of them from the Givati reconnaissance unit that were operating on the ground inside Gaza when they were engaged by Hamas militants,” Yingst reported.
The IDF released the names and images of the soldiers on Tuesday: Staff Sgt. Lavi Lipshitz, 20, from Modiin (left) and Staff Sgt. Roei Wolf, 20, from Ramat Gan (right).
Israel Defense Forces
“It gives you a sense of how difficult these battles will be. This was the first time the Israelis lost soldiers since entering the Gaza Strip on Friday night and conducting these extensive operations there. Behind us today, you can see in this video today, they were operating along the border in the northern part of Gaza. We saw as Israelis conducted more airstrikes against this area,” Yingst continued, adding:
Also, there were soldiers out of vehicles walking alongside tanks and D9 bulldozers trying to push forward deeper into Gaza. As reports do indicate, the Israelis are trying to surround Gaza City as they move forward. Additionally, this other video released by the military shows the operation of Israeli infantry troops and also the leadership of the military that is actually inside Gaza, planning the next move for those soldiers.
All of this comes as we do have that one piece of good news following up on the story from yesterday. Uri Magidish, a private in the Israeli army that was captured on October 7th and taken into Gaza, released and back again in Israel today with her family, you could see the joy on the faces of her family members after so many weeks in Hamas territory. She was freed by her fellow soldiers. And today the Israelis say they were able to take out a top Hamas commander inside Gaza who orchestrated part of that October 7th massacre. That commander named Nazim Abu Ajina, who was from the northern part of the Gaza Strip. As for the operations inside Gaza, we do know those strikes continue.
You just heard some of that outgoing artillery in the distance here. And the Palestinians say the Israelis struck the Jabalya refugee camp today in the northern part of the strip. We have reached out to the Israeli military for comment as we continue to gather information about that incident John.
Watch the full clip above via Fox News.
