L-R: Staff Sgt. Uri Lamed, Sgt. Amit Arye Regev, and Sgt. Gadi Cotal, who were killed in the Gaza Strip on September 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Jerusalem, Sept 8

Four Israeli soldiers were killed early Monday morning in a Hamas attack on the outskirts of Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced later in the day. The incident comes amid Israel’s intensifying aerial strikes and preparations for a major ground assault on the city.

The soldiers, all members of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, were identified as Staff Sgt. Uri Lamed, 20, of Tel Mond; Sgt. Amit Arye Regev, 19, of Modiin; and Sgt. Gadi Cotal, 20, of Kibbutz Afikim. The name of the fourth fallen soldier will be released once the family is notified, the army said. A soldier from the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion was also moderately wounded during the clash.

According to an initial IDF probe, the attack occurred around 6 a.m. in the Kafr Jabalia area, near the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. Three Hamas operatives targeted an army encampment shortly after troops had returned from overnight operations. The attackers reportedly approached a tank at the camp’s entrance and opened fire at its commander, who had his head exposed through the open hatch. They then hurled an explosive device into the vehicle, killing the four soldiers instantly.

Other troops stationed in the outpost returned fire as the attackers fled, hitting at least two of them. During the exchange, the wounded infantryman sustained a leg injury, the IDF said.

The fatalities were confirmed hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Gaza City residents. Speaking from the Israeli Air Force’s underground command center in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said that over the past two days, Israel had demolished 50 so-called “terror towers,” adding that the strikes were only a prelude to a large-scale ground maneuver.

“I promised you that we would destroy Gaza’s terror towers. This is exactly what we are doing,” Netanyahu declared. “Now, this is just the introduction, just the prelude, to the main intense operation. To the residents of Gaza, I say again: you have been warned — get out.”

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that “a powerful hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City, and the roofs of the towers of terror will shake.”