Senior officer from Golani Brigade dies after failed attempt to rescue injured troops in Shejaiya area
Two senior Israeli commanders and seven other soldiers have been killed by Hamas in a complex ambush in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, an area that has seen intense urban fighting in recent days.
The latest Israeli combat deaths came amid fears of a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza as heavy winter rains and cool weather lashed the region and after reports by aid agencies of dwindling food stocks for the vast number of Palestinians who have been displaced to southern Gaza.
Lt Col Tomer Greenberg, a commander in the Golani Brigade, who had fought against Hamas during its attack on the southern Israel border communities on 7 October, was killed during a failed attempt to rescue four injured soldiers.
In one of the most lethal incidents for Israeli soldiers during the two-month long war in Gaza, Greenberg and several of his senior officers were killed in fighting involving improvised explosive devices, while they were fired on from buildings.
Among the dead, announced by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday, were another colonel, three majors, and several members of a combat rescue force.
A notice in Hebrew posted by the Golani Brigade described the ambush which occurred near Shejaiya’s market.
“While carrying out searches to clear buildings in the heart of the Shejaiya Kasbah, considered a crowded area overflowing with terror targets, there was a large explosion in one of the building and several soldiers from the 13th battalion were wounded.”
According to accounts of the battle, the soldiers were approaching a building when they first came under fire from an upper storey, initiating a fire fight in which they were struck by grenades and an explosive charge severely injuring four who were cut off from the rest of the soldiers.
