Shejaiya: The officers died during a rescue mission to bring out trapped IDF men

Shejaiya: The officers died during a rescue mission to bring out trapped IDF men

Shejaiya: The officers died during a rescue mission to bring out trapped IDF men

A colonel, lieutenant colonel and three majors of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) were killed in a Hamas ambush in Gaza City's Shejaiya suburb, reports claimed Israel as saying. At least nine Israeli soldiers including the two senior officers lost their lives when Hamas guerillas ambushed an effort to pull out a few injured IDF personnel, the report said.

Shejaiya suburb has witnessed intense urban warfare between the rival factions in recent days. According to reports, four IDF soldiers were hurt and trapped amidst the fighting. They were reportedly part of a crew that was involved in door-to-door fighting with the Hamas. 

While climbing the stairs, the IDF men came under fire from the upper storeys of the building. When they returned fire, grenades were reportedly hurled by the local fighters, the unit was forced to scramble -- leaving four injured soldiers to fend off themselves.

It was then Lt Col Tomer Greenberg, a commander in the Golani Brigade, decided to lead a team of combat rescue force to get the men out, The Guardian reported. Lt Col Greenberg had earlier engaged the Hamas militiamen in Israel after they attacked multiple Jewish settlements in a rare cross-border attack.

Hamas fighters had the Colonels and their crew pinned down by firing from nearby buildings and detonated Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), the news report added.

Two waves of IDF rescue efforts (of which the seven fallen men were part) were thus foiled by the Hamas men who held their ground in the buildings nearby, reports said. 

“While carrying out searches to clear buildings in the heart of the Shejaiya casbah, considered a crowded area overflowing with terror targets, there was a large explosion in one of the building and several soldiers from the 13th battalion were wounded,” an IDF statement was quoted as saying by Guardian.

Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country will continue its war on Hamas whether or not it has international support. 

"A ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the terrorist

organization Hamas, and will allow it to return and threaten the

residents of Israel," Reuters quoted him as saying.

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