The IDF on Sunday identified two soldiers killed in combat in the Gaza Strip amid renewed clashes that have put the fragile ceasefire under strain.

The fallen soldiers were Major Yaniv Kula hy”d, 26, and Staff Sergeant Itay Yavetz hy”d, 21, both from Modiin and members of the Nachal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, the army said in a statement.

According to initial findings, the soldiers were killed when a Hamas cell emerged from a tunnel and fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at an IDF excavator operating in the area. Moments later, a second excavator came under sniper fire, wounding two additional soldiers, one seriously. Another soldier was later injured in a separate sniper attack, the military said.

The attack broke the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, and following their deaths, the IDF carried out a new wave of airstrikes across southern Gaza, including in Khan Younis. The IDF said one of the airstrike targets was a tunnel complex previously used by Hamas to hold Israeli hostages, while in the north, a drone strike killed several armed militants who had crossed into Israeli-controlled territory.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)