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Jan. 8, 2009
3 soldiers killed as IDF pushes deeper into northern Gaza cities
Yaakov Katz
Two IDF officers and a soldier were killed on Thursday as the IDF penetrated deeper into urban centers in the northern Gaza Strip.
In the evening, fierce clashes erupted in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City between Golani Brigade soldiers and Hamas terrorists. At least 10 gunmen were reported killed.
Capt. Omer Rabinovitch, 23, of Arad, was killed in the close-quarter firefights in Zeitoun.
Sgt. Amit Robinson, 21, a tank crewman from Kibbutz Magal, south of Baka al-Gharbiya, was killed by a sniper, also in northern Gaza. His parents made aliya from Argentina.
Earlier in the day, Maj. Ro’i Rosner of the Kfir Brigade’s Haruv Battalion was killed and another soldier was lightly wounded, when a Hamas man fired an anti-tank missile at them as they conducted searches near the Kissufim crossing into the Strip.
Nine IDF soldiers have been killed since the start of Operation Cast Lead.
In the afternoon, seven soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, by a mortar shell in the Eshkol region.
Gazans reported some two dozen IAF strikes on Thursday. One gunman was killed and 10 were wounded in Gaza City, while an air strike in northern Gaza killed three members of a rocket-launching cell, Palestinian medical officials said.
The attack took place about 150 meters from a hospital and wounded 12 bystanders.
While the fighting intensified on Thursday, on Wednesday night there were no clashes reported by the soldiers operating inside the Gaza Strip.
Some 30 rockets were fired on southern Israel on Thursday. Officials said Hamas was believed to have several dozen long-range Katyusha rockets left in its arsenal, and that the Islamist group was trying to smuggle additional weaponry from Sinai into Gaza through tunnels in Rafah.
Nevertheless, defense officials estimated that it would take Hamas "several years" to recover from Operation Cast Lead.
The United Nations halted aid deliveries to Gaza after one of its drivers was killed as he was picking up a shipment on Thursday.
"The UN is suspending its aid operations in Gaza until we can get safety and security guarantees for our staff,‘ spokesman Chris Gunness said. ’We’ve been coordinating with them [Israeli forces] and yet our staff continue to be hit and killed."
The UN has already demanded an investigation into Israel’s shelling of a UNWRA school that killed at least 30 people earlier this week. Israel said Hamas men were firing mortar shells at troops from within the school grounds at the time.
For a second straight day, Israel suspended its Gaza military operation for three hours to allow in humanitarian supplies.
Overnight Wednesday, Ashkelon residents were woken in the middle of the night by an air raid siren. On Thursday, a rocket struck a school’s gymnasium in the city, piercing a wall, while another rocket fell in open territory.
Three rockets were fired at Sderot, where one person was treated for shock.
AP contributed to this report.
Fallen officer had been married less than a year
Haviv Rettig Gur
Maj. Ro’i Rosner, 27, killed in a battle with Hamas fighters Thursday near Kissufim in the Gaza Strip, left behind a wife of 10 months, his parents, and a younger brother who had been mobilized to reserve duty for the Gaza operation.
A company commander in the Haruv Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, Rosner had extensive expertise in urban warfare. Some of this experience was gained when his battalion was stationed in the Hebron area, where it conducted operations against terror cells in the city and its environs.
On Thursday morning, Rosner led a force on a patrol near Kissufim when the soldiers came under heavy fire. An antitank rocket was fired toward the force, mortally wounding Rosner and moderately wounding another soldier.
Rosner was evacuated to hospital, where he died of his wounds.
Ro’i’s brother, Yaniv, was in the middle of combat training at the Tze’elim base when he heard of his brother’s death. Yaniv had received an emergency call-up notice on Saturday night and was preparing to join the Gaza fighting.
Ro’i grew up in a religious family in Holon, where the family still resides. He married his girlfriend Sharon only 10 months ago, and the couple returned bought an apartment in Holon just last month.
A career officer who did his undergraduate studies during his military service, Ro’i was set to begin his master’s degree studies shortly. He was a champion runner as a youth and enjoyed playing tennis on weekends, his family said.
According to relatives, they last saw Ro’i two weeks ago Saturday. The entire family had gone out for dinner, but the gathering was interrupted when Roi received an urgent call to return to his unit because IDF operations against Hamas forces in Gaza were commencing.
Ro’i studied at the Yavneh religious-Zionist school in Holon. After hearing of his brother’s death, Yaniv told reporters he had prayed and read Psalms for his brother’s safety while Ro’i was fighting in Gaza.
Rosner was buried at the Holon Military Cemetery Thursday evening.
In Memoriam
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