Four tank crewmen were killed early Monday in a Hamas guerrilla attack on a military outpost in Gaza City, the IDF said, in one of the deadliest single incidents for Israel’s armored corps in weeks of urban combat.
The military identified three of the slain soldiers 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. The name of the fourth soldier has not yet been cleared for publication.
According to the army, four Hamas fighters 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.
Hamas has stepped up such raids on Israeli outposts in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, apparently aiming to exploit fatigue among front-line soldiers. The army said terrorists are attempting such guerrilla strikes roughly once a week, most of which have been repelled.
By afternoon, Palestinian media reported heavy Israeli air and artillery strikes in Gaza City, describing what they called a “fire belt” around parts of the city. Residents said Israel had issued warnings to evacuate several residential towers, one of which was later struck twice.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that Israel was intensifying operations. “Today a mighty hurricane will strike over Gaza City and the rooftops of the terror towers will shake,” he wrote. Katz warned Hamas leaders both in Gaza and abroad to free the hostages and surrender. “Otherwise Gaza will be destroyed and you will be eliminated,” he said, adding that the army was preparing to expand its maneuver to “decisively defeat Gaza.”