The IDF on Wednesday identified the first soldier killed in the ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah as Sergeant Ira Yair Gispan, 19, of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion, from Petah Tikva, who died in an operational accident the day before. Three other soldiers were injured in the same incident.
The IDF death toll since the outbreak of the war on October 7 reached 621, including 273 since the launch of ground operations in Gaza.
"It is impossible to say Ira's name without smiling," Gispan's former teacher Shai Amit told Ynet. "I taught him for two years in software engineering class in high school. He was the glue that held the class together, a captivating boy. He was full of spirit, such positive mischievousness, it was impossible to really be angry with him. He was very loved and well-liked by his friends, he wanted and aspired to be a soldier - and fought for it, too. I remember our conversations."
Amit said that Gispan "was in a software engineering class where many of them are oriented toward other professions in the army. He actually wanted to go be a soldier, even though he was very smart, with excellent abilities. I remember one incident when I came to class during a break and saw him doing something dangerous, and then when I took him aside, he simply said to me, 'Shai, what do you want from me? I'm bored', with such a smile. You pretend to be angry with him, but you know that inside, you are waiting for him to burst out laughing."
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162nd Division forces engaging with terrorist targets in east Rafah
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
On Tuesday, 162nd Division forces continued their engagement with terrorist targets in east Rafah and at the Rafah crossing on the Gaza side of the border. In the Rafah crossing area, 401st Brigade troops engaged in close combat, eliminating several armed terrorist cells.
In east Rafah, Givati Brigade soldiers eliminated terrorists in direct encounters and discovered weapons caches. The Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes against a group of terrorists exiting a launch area under ground forces' coordination. Additionally, an airstrike targeted a position from which other terrorists were firing at the soldiers.