The Israeli military announced on Monday an increase in its death toll to 430 since October 7th, with the number of soldiers killed since the start of the ground operation on October 27th reaching 120.
In a statement on its website, the military identified four additional soldiers killed in combat:
Reserve Officer Gideon Ilani, 35, from Meshaal, a fighter in Battalion 2855, Spearhead Formation (55), killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip.
First Sergeant (Reserve) Itai Peri, 36, from Modi’in, a liaison officer in Battalion 8111, 5th Brigade, killed in a battle in southern Gaza.
Major (Reserve) Avitar Cohen, 42, from Kfar Saba, a training officer in Battalion 8111, 5th Brigade, killed in a battle in southern Gaza.
Major Gal Bisher, 34, from Oranit, a training officer in Division 36, died in a military vehicle accident in southern Israel. Tens of thousands of Gazans have been fleeing to areas west and south of the embattled southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, including to the nearby border town of Rafah, where an airstrike on Wednesday brought new bloodshed and chaos to an area overflowing with people displaced by the war.
The strikes came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had surrounded the home of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city. Israeli officials have directed their attentions to southern Gaza and on Mr. Sinwar, though his exact location is unknown.
