The two soldiers fell in separate incidents hours apart in Rafah on Thursday afternoon.
(photo credit: Shutterstock/IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
The IDF on Friday morning released the names of two soldiers who fell in battle in Rafah’s al-Jeninah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Sergeant Yishai Elyakim Urbach, 20, from Zichron Ya’akov, was a soldier in the IDF’s 605th Combat Engineering Battalion.
Staff-Sergeant Yam Frid, 21, from Sal’it, was a soldier in the IDF’s Golani Reconnaissance Battalion.
Three other soldiers from the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion were injured during the two events, one severely injured in the incident that killed Urbach, and two others injured in the incident that killed Frid, the military confirmed.
Two other soldiers in the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion were also injured in the incident that killed Frid, according to Walla.
Orbach was killed during a search for a Hamas terror tunnel inside a building, and Frid was killed two hours later when their armored vehicle was hit by an explosive device, Walla added. Orbach was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade, according to a report by Ynet.
Mourning the fallen soldiers
Defense Minister Israel Katz reacted, commenting that he “grieves the loss” of “two of the best sons of this country.”
Katz also sent his “deepest condolences” to the fallen soldiers’ families and sent his best wishes for the recovery of the injured Combat Engineering soldiers.
All three injured soldiers were evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment, and their families were notified of their status, the military added.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post