Staff Sergeant Nave Habshoosh named as fourth soldier killed in southern Lebanon tank incident

Staff Sergeant Nave Habshoosh was named as the fourth soldier killed after Hezbollah struck a tank in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on Sunday morning.

Habshoosh, 20, from Geva Binyamin, served in the 52nd Battalion in the 401st Brigade.

The tank, belonging to 52nd Battalion forces under the Givati Brigade, was operating in the area of the village of Tebnit at the time of the attack.

Lt.-Col. Dor Gedalia Ben-Simhon, 32, St.- Sgt. Yoav Klein, 21, and St.-Sgt. Liav Kababia, 20, also of the 52nd Battalion, were killed in the same incident.

Ben-Simhon had taken over command of the 52nd Battalion from Lt. Col. “Y.” on April 20 after the latter was seriously wounded in southern Lebanon.

“A few hours before the incident, Nave wrote to me that there was a chance he’d come home on Sunday, but told me not to tell his mother, so she wouldn’t build up expectations,” Habshoosh’s father, Haim, told Army Radio on Sunday. “We were only told this morning that Nave’s body had been identified, and that he would be coming home today.’

“This isn’t how we planned for him to come back. We understood that he had been killed but that they [the IDF] couldn’t get to him, since the tank was in a problematic area.”

“I knew he was at the front, but you can’t imagine that you’ll be next,” Haim said. “We knew there was risk, but the IDF is strong and we have no other choice. We can’t go on living without someone at the front making sure it’s quiet here.”

In a separate incident overnight on Friday, Hezbollah attacked IDF positions in the Lebanon buffer zone.

Sgt. First Class Nir Ben Ari, 21, from the Maglan Unit, Commando Brigade, is believed to be the only soldier killed in these attacks, though 13 other soldiers were wounded.

In the overnight attacks, Hezbollah launched over 50 projectiles at soldiers in a “blatant ceasefire violation,”  the IDF said.

The military responded to the attacks with strikes on several Hezbollah terrorists and terror infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon, the military added, including rocket launch positions, weapons storage facilities, and command centers.

Later on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz told the IDF to hold fire until further notice.

On Sunday, Netanyahu expressed his condolences on Sunday, saying that he and his wife, Sara, “together with all the citizens of Israel, embrace [their families] in this difficult time and pray for the recovery of our wounded soldiers.”

“Yoav, Nir, Liav and Nave fought with great courage and heroism on the front lines against the terrorist organization Hezbollah in order to maintain Israel’s security,” he said.

“We will continue to do everything necessary to restore security to the residents of the north,” Netanyahu noted. “May their memories be a blessing.”