St.-Sgt. Naveh Leshem, 20, a soldier in the 12th Battalion, Golani Brigade, was killed in battle while fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Tuesday, as troops continued operations there and reinvaded Jabalya in northern Gaza.
Leshem was from the West Bank settlement of Nokdim. The Gush Etzion Regional Council released a statement of grief and solidarity in mourning with the Leshem family, adding that Leshem was the 20th individual from the Gush Etzion bloc killed since October 7. His funeral took place on Tuesday afternoon at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery.
The IDF said that in the incident in which Leshem was killed, a combat officer and three soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion were seriously wounded. The soldiers went for medical treatment in hospitals, and their families were notified.
Near a food distribution center in Khan Yunis on Monday, tanks fired into a crowd trying to get aid from trucks, killing at least 59 people, according to medics at a Gaza hospital. The military acknowledged firing in the area and said it was looking into the incident. Gaza’s health authorities are wholly controlled by Hamas and cannot be verified by a third, independent party.
Videos shared on social media showed around a dozen mangled bodies lying in a street in Khan Yunis.
“All of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells,” said Alaa, an eyewitness interviewed by Reuters at Nasser Hospital, where wounded victims lay sprawled on the floor and in corridors due to the lack of space.
“No one is looking at these people with mercy. The people are dying; they are being torn apart to get food for their children. Look at these people; all these people are torn to get flour to feed their children.”
Medics said at least 59 people were killed and 221 wounded, at least 20 of them in critical condition. Casualties were being rushed into the hospital in civilian cars, rickshaws, and donkey carts.
In a statement, the military said: “Earlier today, a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Yunis and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.
“The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of wounded individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach. The details of the incident are under review. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible while maintaining the safety of our troops.”
Medics said at least 14 other people were also killed in separate Israeli gunfire and airstrikes elsewhere in the enclave, taking the recent death toll to at least 65.
The UN has refused to cooperate with the GHF
Since Israel partially lifted the blockade on the enclave, it has been channeling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
The United Nations rejects the system as inadequate, dangerous, and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid.
Elsewhere in Khan Yunis, near the European Hospital, troops mapped out and sealed a Hamas terror tunnel in an area where the body of assassinated Hamas chief Mohammed Sinwar was found earlier in June, along with at least 10 other terrorists. Sinwar was killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 13, the IDF confirmed on May 31.
This followed two weeks of operations by Golani soldiers, who, along with IDF special forces and intelligence, conducted the operations to locate and map out a “large-scale underground Hamas infrastructure” near the European Hospital.
In northern Gaza, the IDF began ground operations in Jabalya. This is the first such on-the-ground operation in Jabalya since the Iran attacks began this weekend but is at least the third time since the start of the Israel-Hamas War in October 2023.
The military said troops destroyed rocket launchers, tunnel shafts, and infrastructure both above and below ground.
Givati Brigade troops operating in the area clashed with Hamas fighters coming toward them. The terrorists were struck by fighter jets.
In the West Bank, the IDF announced that it expanded what it says are its anti-terrorist operations there.
In the joint announcement from the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police, the military said that the Nahal Brigade, which had been fighting in the Gaza Strip up until now, was transferred to the West Bank.
The troops will use the Eitan armored personnel carriers (APCs), delivered first in May 2023 and used now in West Bank operations for the second time, the IDF noted.
Operation Iron Wall against terrorism in the West Bank began in January and mainly targeted refugee camps, emptying them. Troops have routinely found and confiscated weapons and cash.
Per UNRWA, about 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced.
Separately, Israel Police announced that 13 suspects were arrested for throwing stones at Jewish Israelis in the West Bank and at troops.