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21 Israeli Soldiers Killed as Buildings Collapse in Gaza Blast
Friends and family mourn Israeli military reservist Sergeant First Class Hadar Kapeluk, 23 who was killed in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, January 23, 2024. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israelis mourned their deadliest day since troops entered Gaza at the end of October, with 21 soldiers falling in a single disaster on Monday, alongside three officers who perished in separate fighting.
“An unbearably difficult morning, in which more and more names of the best of our sons – the silver tray in the full sense of the word – are added to the hero’s tombstone, in a war that has no justice,” said Israel’s President Isaac Herzog. “The intense battles are taking place in an extremely challenging space, and we are strengthening the soldiers of the IDF and the security forces who are working with endless determination to realize the goals of the fighting. On behalf of the entire nation, I console the families and pray for the healing of the wounded. Even on this sad and difficult morning, we are strong and remember that together we will win,” the president added.
The incident unfolded, according to early IDF assessments, after the soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip were attacked by Hamas terrorists firing RPG missiles, one of which hit a tank and set off mines that the IDF had set up for a controlled demolition of a building. The explosion led to the collapse of two buildings nearby where the 21 soldiers were inside clearing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Yesterday we experienced one of the most difficult days since the outbreak of the war. I wish to strengthen the dear families of our heroic warriors who fell on the battlefield.” He added “The IDF has launched an investigation into the disaster. We must draw the necessary lessons and do everything to preserve the lives of our warriors. In the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until the absolute victory.”
Other political figures voiced their sorrow over the event.
War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said “This is a difficult morning for all the people of Israel, with the knowledge of the terrible disaster that happened yesterday in the southern Gaza Strip. I would like to strengthen and send my heartfelt condolences to the families of the fallen and wish recovery to the wounded… We are all behind you.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted a traditional prayer said for the remembrance of the fallen, and is typically recited in Israel on Yom HaZikron, Israel’s memorial day.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant added “This is a war that will determine the future of Israel for decades to come – the fall of the fighters is a requires us to achieve the goals of the war.”
Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Lieberman tweeted “We bow our heads and salute our heroic warriors who sacrificed their lives in defense of the homeland.”
Israelis spoke of the losses as a necessary sacrifice in a war against Hamas fighters who attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing some 250 hostages, more than 100 still held in Gaza.
“You know, it’s our sons, it’s our brothers, it’s terrible – but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do so that Oct. 7 doesn’t happen again,” said Blina Rhodes on the street in Jerusalem. “You have to get rid of Hamas and make Gaza safe for us. Otherwise, we have no place to live.”
The names of the fallen are: Major General (Res.) Itamar Tal, 32 years old, from Kibbutz Masilat, Sergeant major (res.) Adam Bismuth, 35 years old, from Samaria, Major General (Res.) Shay Biton Chayon, 40 years old, from Zichron Ya’akov, Major (res.) Daniel Kassau Zagiya, 38 years old, Mikneam Illit, Sergeant major (res.) Matan Lazar, 32 years old, from Haifa, Major General (Res.) Hadar Kapluck, 23 years old, from Mevo Beitar, Sergeant Major (Res.) Sergey Guntmacher, 37 years old, from Ramat Gan, Major General (Res.) Elkana Yehuda Sepaz, 25 years old, from Kiryat Arba, Maj. (Res.) Yuval Lopes, 27 years old, from Alon Shabot, Major (Ret.) Yoav Levy, 29 years old, from Yehud-Monoson, Major (Ret.) Nicholas Berger, 22 years old, from Jerusalem, Major General (Ret.) Cedric Green, 23 years old, from Tel Aviv-Yafo, Sergeant major (res.) Rafael Elias Moshioff, 33 years old, from Pardes Hana-Karkur, Major General (res.) Barak Haim ben Valid, 33 years old, from Rishon Lezion, Major General (res.) Ahmed Abu Latif, 26 years old, from Mahrat, Captain (res.) Nir Binyamin, 29 years old, from Givatayim, Major (res.) Elkana Wiesel, 35 years old, from Bnei Dekalim, Major (responsible) Israel Sokol, 24 years old, from Samaria, Captain (res.) Ariel Mordechai Wolfstal, 28 years old, from Elazar, Major General (Res.) Sagi Idan, 24 years old, from Rosh Ha’Ain, Major General (Res.) Mark Kononovitch, 35 years old, from Herzliya, Major David Nati Alfasi, 27 years old, from Be’er Sheva, Major Eli Levy, 24 years old, from Tel Aviv, and Captain Eyal Mebaruch Toito, 22 years old, from Beit Gamliel.
Contributed reporting from Reuters
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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