At around 6:00 AM, the terrorists arrived at the entrance to the tank, opened fire on the tank commander - and threw an explosive device into him, killing Sergeant Uri Lamed, Sergeant Gadi Kotal, Sergeant Amit Aryeh Regev and another casualty whose name has not yet been released."Uri was a child of values with great giving," said his family members. Amit's family members described him as"a sensitive and wise child, with a quiet but powerful presence." In the Jordan Valley, Gadi was eulogized:"The pain is great"
Raanan Ben Tzur
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Meir Turgeman
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Israel Moskowitz
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In the Hamas guerrilla attack this morning (Monday) on an IDF guard on the outskirts of Gaza City
The fallen were Sergeant Uri Lamed (20), Sergeant Gadi Kotal (20), and Sergeant Amit Aryeh Regev (19).
- all from the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Regular Armored Brigade - and another casualty whose name has not yet been released. The terrorists who arrived in the defensive area threw an explosive device into a tank that was manned outside the defensive area, which exploded - resulting in the death of the four crew members inside.
Sergeant Amit Aryeh Regev, Sergeant Uri Lamed and Sergeant Gadi Kotal - who were killed in the Hamas guerrilla attack (Photo: IDF Spokesperson)
Sergeant Uri Lamed, 20, from Tel Mond, left behind an older sister and two younger brothers."The heart is broken, this is an unimaginable disaster," said family acquaintances with pain."Uri was active in the Tel Mond Scouts, a morally upright boy with great giving, who only graduated from high school about two years ago. His family is well-known in Tel Mond. It is a good family, very patriotic and moral. We are very sad."
Tel Mond Council President Lynn Kaplan paid tribute to him, saying,"With deep sorrow and a heavy heart, the Tel Mond community bows its head upon the announcement of the death of Sergeant Uri Lamed, an armor fighter in the 52nd Battalion, who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. Uri was born, raised and educated in Tel Mond. He is a graduate of our school, the Rabin and Poleg School. We will accompany the late Uri and pay him our last respects with blue and white flags on his funeral procession. We grieve with the family and embrace them in their difficult time. May his memory be blessed forever."
Sergeant Gadi Kotal, 20, from Kibbutz Afikim, studied and was educated in the Jordan Valley, and is the third martyr of the 8th grade at Darka Beit Yarach High School. The head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, Idan Greenbaum, paid tribute to him, saying,"Our hearts go out to the Kotal-Ben Hamo family and the entire Kibbutz Afikim community, upon learning the difficult news of the fall of the late Gadi."
He added: "The pain is great. The entire council staff is accompanying the family at this difficult time and will be by their side with whatever they need. The Jordan Valley Regional Council sends its condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones in the incident in Gaza and the murderous attack in Jerusalem. May the memory of the fallen and the murdered be blessed."
Sergeant Amit Aryeh Regev, 19, from Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut, is survived by his parents, Yonatan and Yael, and his siblings, Ido, Roni and Eliana. His family wrote to him this evening:"Our Amit, we miss you with every breath. But we are proud of you, for the path, for the choices, for the person you were. And we will always love you. Always." They spoke of "Amit's eyes that were mesmerizing, and always full of love and joy," and added: "He was such a special child. Sensitive, smart, with rare emotional intelligence and a quiet but powerful presence."
According to the family,"Among his friends and acquaintances, Amit was a very popular and beloved boy. He loved to have fun, but most of all, he loved sports. Especially Maccabi Tel Aviv, in soccer and basketball. He would go to games with Ido and Yoni, and made sure to purchase a season ticket even during his military service, so that 'they wouldn't take my place,' as he said. This was Amit: sharp, committed, with a precise sense of humor who knew how to make people laugh even in the most unexpected moments."
Before enlisting, family members said,"Amit prepared seriously for military service. His dream was to be a paratrooper, like his father. But when he enlisted in the army, like his grandfather, Giora, he did so with pride and believed in the path. He knew that his family was proud of him, just as he was proud of her. During the service, Amit made sure to maintain close contact with home, always updating them on how he was doing, but also never forgetting to ask how they were doing.
"The family was the center of his world, and the relationship with his parents, Yael and Yoni, was a bond of deep, quiet and present love," they added. Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut Mayor Haim Bivas paid tribute to him, saying,"We were saddened to learn of the death of our city's resident. Amit, a graduate of Mo'ar High School, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip. On behalf of myself and the residents of Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut, I share in the deep sorrow of his parents, siblings, family members and friends. May Amit's memory be blessed."
The terrorists opened fire - and threw an explosive device into the tank at the entrance to the bunker.
The Hamas guerrilla attack on the military defense on the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern Strip began at around 6:00 AM, when a squad of three terrorists arrived at the area on the outskirts of the city's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. The terrorists, as stated, threw an explosive device into the tank - and as a result of the explosion, the four soldiers of the crew who were inside it were killed. In addition, the terrorists shot at the tank commander. Another soldier from the 50th Battalion of the Nahal Brigade was moderately wounded in the leg during an exchange of fire with the terrorists.
The force in the defensive position was combined, with a combat team from the 50th Infantry Battalion of the Nahal Brigade and an armored force from the 401st Brigade, which has been operating in the area at the entrance to Gaza City in recent weeks. The terrorists did not penetrate the defensive position, and the encounter with the tank crew occurred at the entrance to it. The fighters were not sleeping inside the tank during the incident, and initial findings indicate that the crew was alert and conducted searches in the area.
The fighters inside the defense were awake as part of the"alert at dawn" procedure, and also because they had returned about an hour earlier from a nighttime offensive operation. They returned fire at the terrorists to thwart their penetration of the defense, hitting at least two of them. At least one terrorist was eliminated in the exchange of fire with the fighters of Battalion 50, and some of the terrorists apparently managed to escape. The forces are conducting searches to eliminate explosives in the area and carefully locate the bodies of the terrorists. According to the initial investigation, there was no attempt to kidnap a soldier.
The army is investigating whether the terrorists infiltrated through a nearby tunnel that was not detected. The commanders in the defense were also awake at the time of the incident because they were discussing a situation assessment. Hamas has concentrated its efforts in recent weeks to carry out guerrilla attacks on IDF defenses in the Gaza Strip, in order to try to catch the soldiers who are worn out and not alert. On average, there is one attempt per week to carry out such operations, which usually end in repelling the terrorists or demoralizing them.
