The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Monday the death of four reserve soldiers in southern Lebanon, without giving further details about the incident in which they died yesterday, Sunday.
According to Israeli media, the soldiers entered a Hezbollah tunnel and were hit by an accidental explosion of a cache of the Shiite group's explosives.
The four were identified as Captain (res.) Sagi Ya'akov Rubinshtein, Sergeant First Class (res.) Erez Ben Efraim, Major (res.) Evgeny Zinershain and Sergeant Major (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose. All served in the 9263rd Hiram Battalion of the 226th Parachute Brigade.
These are the first reported deaths of Israeli soldiers by the IDF since the truce between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on November 27.
For their part, Israeli forces have eliminated around thirty terrorists who were violating the fragile ceasefire agreement between the parties.
Since the truce began, Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating the agreement, which calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the retreat of the Shiite terrorist group north of the Litani River within 60 days.
Mediators hope the agreement will lay the groundwork for a permanent truce once the 60-day deadline is up.
Since the truce came into effect, Israeli forces have shelled Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure, particularly in southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese group has fired rockets into northern Israel on at least one occasion.
Still, the ceasefire remains in force, and attacks have been significantly reduced.
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article.
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