Staff Sgt. Ori Greenberg, a 21-year-old commando in the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit from Petah Tikva, was killed in combat in southern Lebanon overnight, the IDF said Thursday.
The military said Golani reconnaissance troops identified terrorists in their sector of operations at about 2:10 a.m. During the ensuing close-range clash, Greenberg was killed. Another soldier was wounded in the exchange but did not require evacuation.
Israeli forces killed some of the terrorists and were continuing searches for additional suspects in the sector, the military said.
The deadly incident came amid a series of other casualties in fighting in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Two soldiers were seriously wounded during combat in southern Lebanon during that period, the military said. Overnight, an officer was moderately wounded by friendly fire, and another officer and 13 troops were evacuated to a hospital out of concern for hypothermia. One was listed in moderate condition and the rest were in light condition.
On Wednesday evening, the military said a reservist was seriously wounded by rocket fire directed at forces inside Lebanon. Another soldier and a reserve battalion commander were lightly wounded in the same attack. All three were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The military said Thursday morning that, in a separate incident Wednesday evening, another soldier was seriously wounded by mortar fire targeting troops in southern Lebanon. An officer and two other soldiers were lightly wounded in that attack. They also were evacuated to a hospital, and their families were notified.
That incident took place at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, when forces from the Golani combat team were positioned deeper inside Lebanese territory and conducting searches along the first line of houses, according to the military. At one point, a mortar shell was fired at them, wounding the officer and the three soldiers. Their comrades returned fire while evacuating them.
As Israeli forces deepen their hold in parts of southern Lebanon, military officials say incoming fire is expected to intensify. So far, however, most of the attacks have come from a distance, with relatively few face-to-face gun battles with Hezbollah terrorists.
Hezbollah said it had carried out 95 operations on Wednesday, including attacks on Israeli forces and launches into Israel, and published details on 87 of them. The figure was the largest the group has reported, according to the IDF, and exceeded the number of operations it had claimed on any single day during the long months of fighting before the ceasefire.
At about 1:10 a.m. Thursday, Hezbollah launched rockets toward central Israel, triggering sirens in the Tel Aviv area and the Sharon region. In its claim of responsibility, the Lebanese terrorist group said the targets were the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv and what it described as the Dolphin intelligence base in the city.