IDF Death Toll Since Oct. 7 Hits 700

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed on Saturday while battling Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip, the military announced on Sunday morning.

The slain man was named as Staff Sgt. Amit Tsadikov, 20, a fighter in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, from Beit Dagan.

Tsadikov was killed by an explosive device in Khan Yunis, according to a preliminary IDF probe.

Also on Saturday, the military announced that three reserve soldiers were killed during fighting in central Gaza.

Two of the troops slain were named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Danil Pechenyuk, 27, from Bat Yam, and Sgt. First Class (res.) Nitai Metodi, 23, from Ashkelon. They served in the 16th “Jerusalem” Infantry Brigade’s 6310th Battalion.

They were killed along with Sgt. First Class (res.) Evyatar Atuar in an explosion in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood on Friday.

The third soldier named on Saturday, slain in a gun battle with Gazan terrorists, was Sgt. Maj. (res.) Yaniv Itzhak Oren, 35, of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 8119th Battalion, from Kibbutz Ein Gedi.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 337, and at 700 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.

In addition, 63 Israel Police officers, 10 Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) personnel, five Fire and Rescue Authority firefighters and nine Magen David Adom first responders have died in the war, nearly all during the Hamas-led invasion on Oct 7.

Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora, a member of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, was fatally wounded during a hostage-rescue mission in Gaza in June, and civilian defense contractor Liron Yitzhak was mortally wounded in May.