The IDF announced an additional IDF casualty in Gaza on Friday, the thirty-third death since Operation Protective Edge began eighteen days ago.
Sergeant First Class (Res.) Yair Ashkenazi, served in Training Base 1. Ashkenazi, 36, from Rehovot, was killed early Friday while fighting terror in northern Gaza.
His family has been notified.
Ashkenazi's funeral will be held Friday at 4:00 pm in the Rehovot Military cemetery. A bus to the funeral will leave from the Nahariya train station at 2:00 pm.
Ashkenazi leaves behind a wife and three children.
In the past day the IDF has destroyed some 130 terrorist targets in Gaza, for a total of 3540 targets since Operation Protective Edge began 18 days ago. The army says approximately 240 terrorists have been killed and 31 "terror tunnels" located - 11 of which are to be destroyed imminently.
Overnight a commander in the Golani infantry brigade was seriously injured when the wall of a terror tunnel collapsed onto him, and was evacuated to Soroka medical center. 120 soldiers are currently being treated for wounds sustained during the ground operation, eight of them with serious injuries - two of whom were rushed to Soroka by helicopter last night.
Also overnight IDF forces discovered two houses being used to store weaponry, including antitank missiles. Several terrorists surrendered to the soldiers after initially hiding inside underground tunnels.