Jerusalem, 25 June, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in Khan Yunis when a bomb blew up their armored personnel carrier, the Israel Defense Forces said on Wedensday morning, the deadliest incident in a year.
The seven were part of a combat engineering battalion involved in an operation to search for and destroy tunnel shafts and other terror targets.
According to the IDF, a terrorist managed to attach an improvised explosive device to their APC onTuesday. After what the army called an “intense explosion,” the vehicle caught fire.
Soldiers who rushed to the scene were unable to put out the fire. After “many minutes,” an armored bulldozer arrived on the scene and poured sand on the APC, extinguishing the flames. The seven soldiers inside the APC were declared dead by medical teams. The terrorist fled the scene.
The soldiers were identified as Lt. Matan Shai Yashinovski, 21; Staff Sgt. Ronel Ben-Moshe, 20; Staff Sgt. Niv Radia, 20; Sgt. Shahar Manoav, 21; Sgt. Maayan Baruch Pearlstein, 20; and Sgt. Ronen Shapiro, 19. The name of the seventh soldier was not immediately released.
All were from the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion of the 188th Brigade.
The APC attacked was an older “Puma” which the army is replacing with newer, better-protected “Leopards.”
It was Israel’s deadliest incident in Gaza since June 15, 2024, when eight troops were killed wwhen an anti-tank missile struck an APC in Rafah.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, two combat engineers were injured when a rocket propelled grenade directly struck their armored bulldozer. One soldier was seriously injured, the other suffered slight injuries.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 50 remaining hostages, around 30 are believed to be dead.
