The IDF announced the names of three soldiers who were killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday, which include two officers and a reservist.
The soldiers' families have been notified.
The names of the soldiers
Lt.-Cmdr. Yair Cohen, 30, from Ramat Gan, served in the 630th Battalion in the Southern Brigade and was killed in battle in the southern Gaza Strip. He was promoted to Lt.-Commander after his death. His funeral will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul.
Sgt.-Maj. Ziv Chen, 27, from Kfar Saba, was a reservist who served in the 630th Battalion in the Southern Brigade and was killed in battle in the southern Gaza Strip. His funeral will be on Tuesday at 12 p.m. at the military cemetery in Kfar Saba.
Lt.-Col. Netanel Yaacov Elkouby, 36, from Haifa, served in the 630th Battalion in the Southern Brigade and was killed in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
Elkouby leaves behind a wife and five children. His funeral will be at a military cemetery in Haifa at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday. In 2019, he was a Captain (res.). He enlisted in 2006 in the Givati Brigade, where he moved through several positions until receiving the position of sergeant.
Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kreuzer, who knew Elkouby, said, "I received with great sadness the news of the death of my dear friend, Elkouby, who fell heroically in the battles in the Gaza Strip in defense of our homeland. I had the privilege of knowing a fierce man and a hero with a gentle soul. My head refuses to believe, and my heart is broken. I salute you. Nati, rest in peace," Maariv quoted him as saying.
The three IDF soldiers were killed, along with around 10 wounded, in Gaza on Monday either by a Hamas improvised explosive or by an anti-tank missile attack.
The Hamas attacker either activated the explosive or fired the missile on the structure where the soldiers were basing themselves at the time.Though the IDF announced the deaths on Monday evening, the names were not released for publication until early Tuesday.