Eight Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza

Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in the Rafah area of ​​southern Gaza on Saturday. According to the Israel Defense Force, all these soldiers were inside an armored combat engineering vehicle (CEV) named Namer. This is the first such accident in which such a large number of soldiers have been killed after 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast in Gaza in January.

IDF said that the accident happened at around 5:15 am local time. A contingent of Israeli army, which had gone to destroy Hamas terrorist hideouts in the northwestern part of Tal al-Sultan area of ​​Rafah, was returning after killing about 50 terrorists. Then a vehicle of the convoy came under the blast.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that according to the information we have received so far, this blast happened due to explosives planted in the area or an anti-tank missile was fired towards the army convoy. The blast was so severe that only one of the dead soldiers could be identified.

The Israeli army has not yet held anyone responsible for this blast. However, Hamas' military wing Al Qassam Brigade has said that it has carried out a deadly attack on an enemy vehicle in the Tal al-Sultan area.

The Al Qassam Brigade said that it targeted a military bulldozer, which caught fire. When rescue troops reached there, they attacked the armored vehicle with a missile. The brigade said that our attacks against the enemy will continue wherever he is. The army occupying our areas will get nothing but a death trap.

Hagar also said that the investigation revealed that there was no gun fire during the explosion and the vehicle was not stopped in one place. After this incident, a team of experts from the Israeli Defense Ministry and the IDF will investigate the vehicle and find out the exact cause of this blast.