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Kobi Richter/TPS-IL on 14 April, 2025
Two Soldiers Killed as Israel Mobilizes Tens of Thousands of Reservists for New Gaza Offensive
Jerusalem, 4 May, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded in an explosion in southern Gaza’s Rafah as Israel prepares to significantly expand its ground offensive, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday. The deaths come amid tens of thousands of new call-up orders issued to reservists over the weekend.
The fallen soldiers were identified as Cpt. Noam Ravid, 23, and Staff Sgt. Yaly Seror, 20, of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit. According to an initial IDF probe, the Yahalom team was inspecting the entrance of a tunnel inside a building when there was an explosion. One of the wounded soldiers remains in serious condition, the other moderately hurt.
The fatalities bring the Israeli military death toll in the Gaza ground offensive and operations along the border to 416.
The IDF announced Saturday night it would be mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists to bolster its ongoing operations. Many of these reservists have already been called up multiple times during the war. Reinforcements are expected to arrive throughout the coming week. The Israeli security cabinet was scheduled to meet Sunday to vote on the military’s new operational plans.
Currently, three IDF divisions are deployed in Gaza, with operations aimed at pressuring Hamas into agreeing to a hostage deal. Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that without progress on a hostage agreement, a major offensive would be launched into additional areas of Gaza.
Elsewhere in the Strip, two soldiers were injured — one moderately and one lightly — in a blast at an army encampment near Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods. Preliminary IDF findings suggest the explosion may have been caused by a premature tank shell detonation or a mortar strike.
The IDF said it was also investigating a separate unspecified incident in northern Gaza in which a reserve soldier was injured.
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 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.
