Hi,
It was clear that as the ground maneuver I will start, IDF count number of soldiers deaths will start raising as well.
So far, the names of 16 soldiers who died in the Gaza strip had been allowed for publication. Those are on top of the soldiers who died in the Black Sabbath and during the 26 days of war until the ground maneuver has started (most of those were caused by accidents and by Hezbollah attacks on Lebanon border)
11 soldiers of those 16 are of 432nd “Tzabar” (Cactus) Infantry Battalion of Givati brigade, who were killed when their Namer got hit by anti-Tank missile in Gaza. Two more soldiers of Givati Reconnaissance company soldiers were killed from the anti-tank missile in a different attack than the one on the Namer. Two Armored corps soldiers of 77th battalion were killed when this tank was attacked by an explosive device. Another reserve duty officer was killed outside of Kibbutz Be’eri by a mortar shell fired from Gaza.
All I can hope for this will be the last disaster (unlike the Nagmash disaster in Shuja’iyya on operation Protective Edge) in this war and hopefully no more deaths of IDF soldiers or Israeli citizens will be announced.
Guri is now inside Gaza strip without any cellphone (just as he was in operation Protective Edge). His wife (my sister in law) gets a massage once a day from the adjutant of his unit that he is OK and let us know he is fine. As our elder sister said, they report to her about her husband, the way the kindergartner report her about her child (he slept, he ate, and he is generally OK).
Take Care
Gad
The 11 soldiers of “Tzabar” (Cactus) Infantry Battalion of Givati brigade killed when their Namer got hit by an anti-Tank missile