An Israeli tank commander who was hailed as a hero for his actions during Hamas’s attack on Be’eri kibbutz, the scene of one of the worst massacres on 7 October, has been killed while commanding his tank battalion in northern Gaza.
Lt Col Salman Habaka, 33, a member of Israel’s Druze minority, had rushed to Be’eri with his troops when news of the Hamas attack broke on the morning of 7 October, bringing two tanks to the kibbutz, which engaged members of the militant Islamist group in houses where they were hiding.
He is the most senior officer to have been killed during the IDF’s ground operation in the Gaza Strip, bringing the Israeli military death toll since the ground invasions started last weekend to 18.
Habaka was among the first Israeli troops to arrive in Israel’s south as the full scope and horror of Hamas’s attack emerged, and later described his part in the fighting in Be’eri in a video interview.
“I arrived in Be’eri to see Brig Gen Barak Hiram and the first thing he asks me is to fire a shell into a house [where Hamas were sheltering],” he said.
“The first question that comes to your mind is – are there hostages there? We did all the preliminary checks before we decided to fire a shell into a house. And then we went from house to house to free the hostages. And that’s how the fighting was until the evening. In the kibbutz and in the streets.
“I realised that as soon as people heard the rumbling of the tanks, they suddenly had a moment of security. The moment that is etched in my memory is that I am driving on the roads and realise that I am going to enter an Israeli community where there are cowards who had taken advantage of the holiday to enter the community, who killed, butchered, and kidnapped elderly children and babies”.
Habaka’s death, reportedly while his tank was supporting an advance, came as more details emerged of the bitter nature of the fighting in Gaza, with Hamas and Israeli soldiers fighting at close quarters and Hamas claiming it had dropped drone munitions on Israeli troops.
In one incident, Israeli troops fought a three-hour-long battle against dozens of Hamas fighters who had ambushed them.
According to reports of the ambush, about 30 Hamas gunmen emerged from tunnels equipped with anti-tank missiles and tried to get into Israeli armoured personnel carriers but failed.
Israeli troops are advancing on Gaza City along three main routes – from the north-east, from the north-west along the Mediterranean coast, and from the south after reaching the territory’s main north-south highway. Israeli officials have provided only vague statements about troop movements.
Airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday destroyed apartment buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City. The number of dead and wounded remains unknown. Israel said the strikes killed militants and demolished Hamas tunnels.
Palestinian militants fired anti-tank missiles, set off explosive devices and hurled grenades at Israeli troops during an overnight battle, the Israeli military said on Thursday. It said soldiers returned fire and called in artillery as well as strikes from a helicopter and a naval ship. The report could not be independently confirmed.
Casualties on both sides are expected to rise as Israeli troops advance toward the dense residential neighbourhoods of Gaza City.
