A reserve officer from an elite unit has fallen in Jabaliya. The IDF announced Monday evening that Major (Res.) Itamar Levin Fridman, 34, of Eilat, a team commander in the Eilat Counter-Terrorism Unit, part of the Adom Division, was killed by an anti-tank missile in northern Gaza.
Since the war began, 783 IDF troops have been killed. Fridman is the first soldier to fall in Gaza in nine days. During this time, two other soldiers were killed in the war on the northern front – Sergeant Ariel Sosnov, who was killed by rocket shrapnel upon exiting Lebanon, and Master Sergeant (Res.) Guy Shabtai, who succumbed to his wounds two weeks after being injured in a battle in Lebanon.
Due to a shortage of fighters from elite units, teams from the Eilat Counter-Terrorism Unit are also participating in operations in Jabaliya. The raid in the city in northern Gaza, involving three brigades under the 162nd Division, is expected to continue for some time, as several thousand terrorists remain in the area.
Fridman, who was killed in Jabaliya, is survived by his wife, Alma, and their two children – Ayala, 3, and Uri, 6. He completed a master's degree in economics and a teaching certificate at Ben-Gurion University's Eilat Campus. He worked as a financial advisor for families and taught economics and mathematics at Goldwater High School in Eilat. He also taught a computer applications course in the management department at the Eilat campus and was scheduled to teach the same course next semester.
His friend Eilat eulogized him on Facebook: "The heart refuses to believe, rest in peace, dear friend." Another friend, Tal, wrote: "Half an hour ago, I was the happiest person in the world. Now my heart is broken. There are no words."
Soldiers of the 162nd Division operate in northern Gaza
(צילום: דובר צה"ל )
Earlier today, the IDF reported that during operations in the Rafah area, Nahal Brigade forces discovered weapons caches full of ammunition stockpiles left behind in raids. In one of the searches, near a mosque and a hospital, a weapons cache was found containing observation posts, explosive devices, dozens of mortar shells and drones.
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