7 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, in grim reminder that one war’s end leaves another grinding on

By PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in a single incident Tuesday in Gaza, marking one of the deadliest days for the Israeli army in its 21-month-old war against Hamas there.

Israeli army tanks and military vehicles move in the areas near the border line of the Gaza Strip on June 23, 2025 in Israel. (Tsafrir Abayov/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The incident came just after Israel struck a ceasefire with Iran, bringing to close a different war that had subsumed attention for 12 days.

The seven men killed were all combat soldiers between 19 and 21. They died after a bomb planted on their armored vehicle exploded in Khan Younis and efforts failed to extinguish the resulting blaze, the IDF announced on Wednesday.

Their deaths bring the Israeli military death toll in Gaza to 440 as the war there grinds on. Israeli leaders say a continued offensive is needed to rid the enclave of terror, but their many critics — including allied nations and the majority of Israelis — say the war should end for reasons including an unlikelihood of defeating Hamas, the high toll on Palestinian civilians and the impediment fighting places to bringing home the 50 Israeli captives, living and dead, still held there.

“This is a very difficult day for the people of Israel,” Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu announced. “Together with all citizens of Israel, my wife and I mourn, and are pained over, the fall of seven of our fighters, of blessed memory, from the Combat Engineering Battalion.”

The names of the seven dead were listed as Lt. Matan Shai Yashinovski, Staff Sgt. Alon Davidov, Staff Sgt. Niv Radia, Staff Sgt. Ronel Ben-Moshe, Sgt. Ronen Shapiro, Sgt. Shahar Manoav and Sgt. Maayan Baruch Pearlstein.

On behalf of myself and the citizens of Israel, I send heartfelt condolences to the families that have lost what is dearest to them, and share in their unbearable sorrow at this difficult hour. May the memory of our fighters be blessed forever.”

The incident on Tuesday was one of the single deadliest for Israeli soldiers since the war’s start, with a death toll larger than all but a handful from the war’s fiercest period in the first half of 2024. The single highest daily death toll for Israeli troops — other than on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas initiated the war by attacking Israel — came on Jan. 22, 2024, when 19 soldiers were killed in a single incident and another five died separately.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also released a statement saying, ““The scene in Gaza is difficult, the battles are difficult, and the burden is unbearable. We bow our heads and embrace with pain and tears the bereaved and grieving families. We are all with you, in grief, with hugs and tears.”