The IDF reported that Master Sergeant (res.) Avraham Azulay, 25, from Yitzhar, a combat engineering vehicle operator in the Southern Command’s engineering unit, was killed Wednesday during a Hamas ambush in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, the military said.
According to the IDF, Hamas fighters emerged from a tunnel and tried to drag Azulay out of his engineering vehicle during an operation to dismantle terror infrastructure carried out by the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion. Azulay resisted and was shot and killed during the struggle. Nearby IDF forces opened fire, hitting several terrorists and preventing the abduction.
Azulay, a resident of Shaked Farm near Yitzhar in the northern West Bank, was married just three months earlier. He leaves behind his wife, parents and siblings. A former paratrooper in the 202nd Battalion, Azulay later joined the 7106th Light Infantry Reserve Battalion and was called up in June to serve in the Southern Command’s engineering unit. Since the war began on October 7, he had served more than 250 days in reserve duty.
The Samaria Regional Council said in a statement that Azulay grew up in the settlement of Elazar and moved to Yitzhar as a teenager, where he established a small business. He was among dozens of Yitzhar residents who volunteered to operate heavy engineering equipment in Gaza.
Azulay is the third resident of Yitzhar killed in the war. Staff Sergeant (res.) Elisha Yehonatan Lober fell in battle in southern Gaza in the early months of the war, and Sergeant Shneor Zalman Kohen was killed in northern Gaza late last year. The council said professional teams are now supporting Azulay’s widow and his community.
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A senior Hamas military wing official told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the group had attempted to abduct a soldier in Khan Younis but failed. He claimed that terrorists are continuing to lay ambushes and inflict casualties on Israeli forces in recent days.
Elsewhere in Gaza, a tank crewman from the 7th Armored Brigade's 77th Battalion was seriously wounded in the north, and two more soldiers were moderately injured by anti-tank fire in Khan Younis. Military officials anticipate that ground clashes with Hamas will intensify further in the coming days amid reported progress in ceasefire talks and expanded IDF operations in Gaza City and Beit Hanoun.
While U.S. and Israeli officials speak of movement in negotiations, Hamas maintains that no agreement has been reached. The central dispute remains over Israel’s military presence in the Morag Corridor, for which Israel presented a revised map Wednesday night. Meanwhile, 50 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza under harsh conditions, with 22 confirmed to be alive. Since the last ceasefire ended, 40 IDF soldiers have been killed in Gaza. In total, 889 soldiers have fallen since the war began, including 447 in the ground offensive.