Three Israeli soldiers died Tuesday when a booby trap was set off during combat operations in a building in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
Three more soldiers were badly wounded in the same incident, the military said, though it provided no further details, Reuters reports.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan radio said the casualties were injured by an explosive device set off in a building in Rafah.
The men’s death illustrates the the danger to IDF ground troops from having to enter Hamas terrorist-infested buildings instead of bombing them as has been the more recent strategy.
The Times of Israel reports the three slain troops all served in the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion.
The outlet further noted their deaths bring the toll of slain Israeli soldiers in the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and amid operations along the border to 291.
Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border that will continue.
Israeli leaders say their forces must enter Rafah to dismantle Hamas terrorists operations and return hostages taken in the Oct. 7 terror attack that triggered the war.
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Israel Police via StoryfulResidents in Rafah reported heavy fighting Wednesday as Israeli forces pressed their assault on the border town once seen as the territory’s last refuge.
In another incident Tuesday, an officer and a soldier of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 614th Battalion were seriously wounded while fighting terror operatives in northern Gaza.
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