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Palestinian targets: IDF tank and soldiers
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Tank Corps to host memorial ceremony for soldiers who died while serving in Gaza, invites 13 families who lost sons serving in Gaza to tour Strip, visit places where loved ones died; several families decline to attend
Hanan Greenberg
The families of 13 IDF soldiers killed while serving in the Gaza Strip in recent years have been invited to tour the Strip, courtesy of the IDF Tank Corps, to bid a final farewell to the scenes where their sons died.
The tour, scheduled for Monday, will include a memorial service for families and friends of the fallen soldiers.
The Tank Corps played a central role in IDF operations in Gaza, taking part in many operations and providing security for Jewish communities in Gush Katif and the northern Gaza Strip.
Final opportunity
During 2002-2003, IDF tanks became a choice target for Palestinian terrorists, causing many injuries.
In the past few days Tank Corps officers have offered bereaved families to tour the former Gaza settlement of Dugit, where they will be hold a commemoration for four Tank Corps soldiers who were killed when a bomb went off near their tank in February 2003. The families are then scheduled to continue toward the Karni-Netzarim road, where six Tank Corps troops found their death between February and March of 2002.
IDF sources told Ynet that some families have expressed their tentative willingness to join the tour, while other families have decided not to visit the areas where their loved ones were killed.
The sources said they are offering the families a final opportunity to visit the region, as Israelis will soon be restricted from entering the Gaza Strip entirely.
Notably, additional protective devices and plates were placed on IDF tanks following the wave of terror attacks in Gaza, but terrorists continued to set off bombs that exploded underneath the tanks.
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