Israeli army announces eight soldiers killed in Rafah blast
Eight soldiers were killed when an armored personnel carrier exploded near the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Israel military said Saturday.
Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast in southern Gaza’s Rafah this morning, the military announced, in what marks the deadliest incident for the Israeli troops in the Strip since January, Times of Israel reported.
According to an initial Israeli army’s probe, the troops were all killed inside a Namer armored combat engineering vehicle (CEV).
The soldiers had been driving in a convoy at around 5 a.m. on Saturday following an overnight offensive against Hamas in the northwestern areas of Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood.
The convoy was heading to buildings captured by the army, for the troops to rest following the overnight operation.
The Namer CEV was the fifth or sixth vehicle in the convoy, and at some point, it was hit by a major explosion. It was not immediately clear if it was a bomb planted ahead of time or if Hamas operatives had approached the vehicle with an explosive device and directly placed it on the CEV, the Israeli’s media added.