Fighting in the northern Gaza Strip took a heavy toll on the IDF on Tuesday as seven soldiers and officers fell in a deadly battle in the notorious neighborhood of Sejaiya.
Among the fallen were the commander of the 13th Battalion in the Golani Brigade, Lt. Col. Tomer Greenberg, along with four other fighters from Golani. These are their names: Major Roy Maldessy, company commander in the 13th Battalion; Major Moshe Avraham Bar-On, company commander in the 51st Battalion; Capt. Liel Hayu, a lieutenant in the 51st, and Sergeant Achiya Daskal, a soldier in the 51st. Two 669 fighters also fell in the incident: Maj. Ben Shelly and Sergeant Col. Rom Hecht. In another incident, Staff Sgt. Uriah Yaakov, a soldier in the 614th Battalion at the School of Combat Engineering, was killed.
According to preliminary details that emerge from the field, the incident in which the seven soldiers were killed took place in the Kasbah in Sajaiya. During a mop up in a crowded area of houses, an IDF force began shooting from one of the houses and an IED was also activated. The force returned fire, and as a result of the activation of the IED, a separation was created between the forces and a rescue process began. Another force that arrived entered the building, and then a second IED was activated, claiming additional fatalities.
Golani and the Sajaiya neighborhood have a bloody history. In an IDF ground operation during Operation Protective Edge, fierce battles took place between Hamas and the IDF, in which rocket launchers were found inside residential buildings. An anti-tank strike on an IDF armored personnel carrier led to the death of six IDF soldiers and the abduction of Oron Shaul's body.
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