Three soldiers killed in Gaza and West Bank as IDF ramps up attacks

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza and one Israeli soldier was killed in the West Bank on Tuesday as the IDF continued to crack down on Hamas. 

Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Elchanan Knoller, 30, from Jeruslaem and Maj. (res.) Eyal Avnion, 25, from Hod Hasharon were killed in combat in central Gaza while Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur, was killed by an explosive device in the Nur al-Shams refugee camp in the West Bank.

Hamas said 25 people were killed in three different strikes in Gaza in the past 24 hours. The terror organisation doesn’t distinguish between civilians and members of Hamas when announcing death toll, nor is it possible to independently verify the numbers.

The IDF said it struck 30 “terror targets” the areas of Shejaiya, Rafah, and central Gaza in the past 24 hours, while “dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites above and below ground were dismantled, including tunnel shafts, weapons storage facilities and a structure from which an anti-tank missile was fired at the troops.”

As Israel called on civilians to evacuate from Khan Younis, COGAT (Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories) announced on Tuesday that a much needed new power line from Israel has been directly connected to a water desalination plant managed by UNICEF in the city.

This desalination plant supplies drinking water to the areas of Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis, and al-Mawasi, where a large percentage of Gazans are currently located, COGAT said in a statement, adding that the plant is only producing 5,000 cubic meters of water a day.

“With the new power line from Israel, the plant will ramp up production to 20,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day. The power line is connected directly to the desalination plant in order to prevent any attempts by Hamas or other terrorist actors from exploiting the supply of electricity.”

The move, however, was harshly criticised by Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who said: “We completely lost our minds. We are rehabilitating Gaza with our own hands before its demilitarisation.”

Smotrich called on Netanyahu to “stop this folly. This time, nobody will be able to claim ignorance, unlike in the case of the release of the director of the terror command centre in Al-Shifa, yesterday.”

Israel is still under pressure from the international community to draw up a viable plan for post-war Gaza.

Netanyahu has rejected the idea of allowing the Palestinian Authority to assume control over Gaza again, but Times of Israel reported that the prime minister has changed his position on the issue in recent weeks.

Netanyahu has reportedly realised that only PA-affiliated individuals in Gaza will be able to take control with the enclave, instead of just “local” Palestinians.