JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Sergeant Yaniv Michalovitch, 19, from Rehovot, was killed on Wednesday during fighting in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of northern Gaza. He served as a combat soldier in the 82nd Armored Battalion of the IDF’s 7th Brigade.
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In a separate incident, five soldiers from the Armored Corps and the Egoz reconnaissance unit were seriously injured when terrorists launched an anti-tank missile at a tank from the 82nd Battalion and struck a building where Egoz forces were positioned.
Sergeant Michalovitch was laid to rest Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. in the Rehovot military cemetery.
Tal Shliser, the aunt of Sergeant Michalovich, eulogized him in a Ynet interview. She said that “Yaniv enlisted in the Armored Corps following his father, uncle, cousin and grandfather. He wanted to contribute to the country. He was a good, sensitive and loving child – simply a great loss to this world.”
The IDF continues its renewed offensive with five divisions pushing Hamas back in all the sectors of Gaza. During IDF operations on Wednesday, a key tunnel which was approximately 2.5 kilometers long and about 39 meters deep was located and destroyed. The destroyed tunnel connected the Khan Younis area to the Rafah area.
The IDF also eliminated the killers of the seven soldiers who fell last week when their Puma ATV exploded. In all, over 100 Hamas terrorists were eliminated over the past 24 hours of the offensive.
IDF soldiers in Syria succeeded on Wednesday in locating and arresting an Iranian terrorist cell which was planning attacks on Israel.