The IDF reported Tuesday that Lieutenant Matan Abramovitz is the 4th soldier killed in a guerrilla attack on a military outpost in Gaza City, in one of the deadliest single incidents for Israel’s armored corps in weeks of urban combat.
Abramovitz, 21, was from Ganei Tikva and an officer in the Armored Corps 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade.
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Lieutenant Matan Abramovitz, Sgt. Gadi Cotal, Staff Sgt. Uri Lamed, Sgt. Amit Arye Regev
(Photo: IDF)
In the incident yesterday, the three slain soldiers were identified as Staff Sgt. Uri Lamed, 20, of Tel Mond; Sgt. Gadi Cotal, 20, of Kibbutz Afikim; and Sgt. Amit Arye Regev, 19, of Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut. All served in the 52nd Battalion of the regular 401st Armored Brigade.
According to the army, four Hamas terrorists launched the assault at around 6 a.m. near an outpost between Jabaliya and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on the northern edge of Gaza City. The terrorists hurled an explosive device into a tank positioned at the entrance, setting it ablaze and killing the entire crew inside. They also opened fire on the tank commander.
The outpost was manned jointly by infantry from the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion and tanks from the 401st Brigade, which has been operating on Gaza City’s outskirts in recent weeks. Soldiers inside the position were on dawn alert, having returned less than an hour earlier from a night raid. They returned fire, killing at least one attacker, while others apparently escaped. The army said one Nahal infantryman was moderately wounded.
Troops were combing the area to ensure no additional explosives were planted and to locate the bodies of the assailants. A preliminary investigation indicated there was no attempt to abduct soldiers, but commanders were examining whether the terrorists had infiltrated through an undiscovered tunnel.