The IDF on Saturday night announced the names of two of the four Yahalom Unit soldiers who fell earlier this week during combat in Gaza.
Sergeant First Class Tom Rotstein, aged 23 from Ramat Gan, and Sergeant Uri Yhonatan Cohen, aged 20, from Neve Yarak, both served as soldiers in the Yahalom Unit, Combat Engineering Corps, and fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip.
Rotstein and Cohen fell during the same incident in which Sergeant Major Chen Gross, aged 33, from Gan Yoshiya, a reserve soldier in the Maglan Unit of the Commando Brigade fell.
Staff Sergeant Yoav Raver, aged 19, from Sde Warburg, a soldier in the Yahalom Unit, Combat Engineering Corps, fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip.
In addition, in the same incident, a reserve officer in the Maglan Unit, Commando Brigade, was severely injured.
The soldier was evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment, and his family has been notified.
The deadly incident occurred at 6:10 a.m. during a ground assault by Division 98 forces in the Bani Suheila neighborhood in the southern Gaza Strip, near the Israeli border. The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in Israel, while IDF forces worked for hours to recover the bodies of the four fallen soldiers from the rubble of the building.
An initial investigation indicated that an IDF force entered a structure to clear it and an explosive was detonated inside the building. As a result, the four soldiers were killed and five were injured, including a reservist officer in serious condition, while the others were in moderate condition.