Twenty-One Israeli Soldiers Killed After Hamas Rocket Triggered Mine Explosion

Three other Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday, making it the deadliest day for the IDF on the ground in Gaza

Twenty-one Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday when they came under attack by Hamas in the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border.

The soldiers came under attack while they were planting mines to demolish two buildings in central Gaza, and a Hamas RPG hit a nearby tank, which likely triggered the mines and collapsed the building on the troops, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

“At around 4 pm, an RPG was fired by gunmen at a tank securing the forces, and simultaneously, an explosion occurred in two two-story buildings. The buildings collapsed due to this explosion, while most of the forces were inside and near them,” the IDF said.

In a separate incident, three other Israeli soldiers were killed, making it the deadliest day for the IDF since the ground invasion of Gaza was launched in October. The IDF said the death toll in the ground operation has risen to 219. A recent report from the Israeli news site Walla said 4,000 Israeli troops have been classified as disabled.

So far, the Israeli slaughter in Gaza has killed over 25,000 Palestinians, including over 9,600 children and 6,750 women. Another 8,000 people are missing and presumed to be dead or dying under the rubble.

Israel’s demolitions with planted mines have come under increasing criticism since it means Israeli forces were able to plant explosives throughout the buildings. Matt Lee, a reporter for The Associated Press, recently confronted State Department spokesman Matt Miller about Israeli forces blowing up Israa University, south of Gaza City.

“To do that kind of an explosion, you need to be in there. You have to put the explosives down. And it takes a lot of planning and preparation to do. And if there was a threat from this particular facility, they wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Lee said to Miller.

Miller did not condemn or express any concern about the explosion but insisted the US is “raising” the issue with the Israeli government. He attempted to justify the demolition by suggesting something was under the building. “But it doesn’t matter what was under the building because they obviously got in there to put the explosives down,” Lee said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.