Wednesday, 7 January 2009
St.-Sgt. Alexander Mashevizky, 21, was killed and four other soldiers from a joint Golani-Engineering Corps force were lightly hurt in a gunbattle with Hamas operatives in northern Gaza City on Tuesday, the IDF announced on Tuesday evening.
It was the fifth IDF fatality in 24 hours.
Beersheba resident Mashevizky, a member of an elite Engineering-Corps unit, led the joint force that was ambushed by Hamas gunmen while conducting ground sweeps. The Hamas operatives were reportedly hit by IDF fire.
Outside of the family home in the Ramot neighborhood of Beersheba on Tuesday night, two of Mashevizky's friends, Diana and Gal, spoke to reporters. They said that they had known him for a number of years and, fighting back tears, Gal said he was the "salt of the earth." Even before joining the army, he wanted to be a pilot.
"He began pilot's training, but after he dropped out he wanted to serve in a rigorous combat position, and decided on the elite unit where he served.
"He did a few different training courses for various units and then decided on the Engineering Corps elite unit.
"He loved what he did and he loved the country," Gal said.
Diana said Mashevizky loved to travel around Israel. He had been to every nook and cranny of the North, which he especially loved.
He didn't say anything about being worried or scared before he went into Gaza, "but that was his way of being, he took everything on his own," Diana said.
"We're going to miss him very much," she added.
Mashevizky was survived by his parents, a brother and a sister. His father is a professor at Ben Gurion University in the Negev. His brother is one year older and his young sister is in the third grade. The Mashevizkys came to Israel a number of years ago from the Former Soviet Union and settled in Beersheba.
Earlier on Tuesday, the army announced that an IDF officer from the Paratroopers Brigade was killed overnight Monday during operations in the northern Gaza Strip. He was identified as Capt. Yehonatan Netanel, 27, from Kedumim.
The IDF was looking into the circumstances of the death, and was reportedly investigating the possibility that the soldier was killed by an errant tank shell.
Should that turn out to be true, the case would mark the second friendly-fire incident of the night. Hours earlier, during separate clashes in northern Gaza, three IDF soldiers were killed and two dozen injured when a tank shell destroyed a house that they were using for cover.
All of the casualties in the earlier incident were members of the Golani Brigade, including Golani Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Avi Peled, who was lightly wounded.
One of the fatalities was identified Tuesday morning as Yousef Moadi, 19, from Haifa. The other two were identified later as Maj. Dagan Wartman, 32, from Ma'aleh Michmash, who served as the doctor for Golani 13th Battalion, and St.-Sgt. Nitai Stern, 21, from Jerusalem.
According to reports, a force from the battalion came under heavy mortar fire in Saja'iya and entered a nearby home for cover.
Mistaking the force for Hamas, an IDF tank fired at the home. A shell hit the building, causing it to collapse on the soldiers inside. Three soldiers were killed and of the 24 wounded, one was in critical condition and another three were in serious condition. The other 20 casualties, including Peled and battalion commander Lt.-Col. Oren Cohen, were lightly to moderately wounded.
The fighting lasted several hours as IDF artillery pounded the area and helicopters evacuated the wounded. The clashes marked the first time the IDF extended its ground operation into a densely populated area.
Throughout Monday, the IDF encountered significant resistance in the northern Gaza Strip, killing close to 100 Palestinian gunmen in a series of close-range gun battles. Another 80 were captured and sent for interrogation. One Palestinian was taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba under heavy security.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that Israel had paid a price for a bitter, unavoidable battle.
"We are now in the eleventh day of Operation Cast Lead. Last night, we paid a heavy price," Barak said on a tour of the Osem factory in Sderot. "I send my condolences to the bereaved families and wish the casualties a speedy recovery."
"It is a bitter battle, but an unavoidable one," he continued. "No peace-loving country can allow a terrorist organization to ruin daily life and embitter the lives of civilians."
The defense minister said Israel had embarked on the operation with the aim of restoring quiet to the South and curbing weapons smuggling and that "we intend to fulfill these goals."
Barak added that the IDF had split Gaza and was surrounding Gaza City.
A senior IDF officer said on Tuesday that Hamas had stepped up its attacks against Israeli troops based in the periphery of towns and villages in northern Gaza.
"Hamas is trying to draw us inside the built up areas," he said. "We are trying to draw them out to the periphery."
Despite the fierce fighting, and with diplomatic activity beginning to gain steam, defense officials predicted Monday that Operation Cast Lead would be over by the end of the week.
"If everything goes as planned the operation could be over in the next 72 hours," a senior officer said.
AP contributed to this report.
