Halevi hints at ‘sharp end’ in Lebanon as Israel suffers deadliest days

The Israeli military has suffered the deadliest days of its ground invasion of southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip when at least 13 soldiers were killed in less than 48 hours. 

In a Friday statement, the military said 10 soldiers were killed in clashes in southern Lebanon and three in Gaza over the past 48 hours, amid relentless drone and rocket operations by Hezbollah and fierce resistance by Palestinian fighters.

Four soldiers from the 2nd Carmeli Reserve Infantry Brigade were killed in clashes with Hezbollah fighters on Thursday, while a member of the elite Oketz Unit was killed in another confrontation.

Israel’s far-right minister Itmar Ben-Gvir said that the death of one of the soldiers named Shlomo Aviad Nayman was “hard news” and a “great loss” for the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, which he hails from.

Five more soldiers from the 8th Armored Reserve Brigade, a unit nicknamed “hazaken” or the “old one”, were killed and 19 others were wounded, four of them seriously, in southern Lebanon on Friday, the military said.

They were hit by a Hezbollah rocket while they were accepting a logistics supply in a southern Lebanese village, the military said.

Hezbollah hits Israeli Merkava tanks in southern Lebanon

The Hezbollah resistance movement has carried out more retaliatory attacks on Israeli positions in the occupied territories and in southern Lebanon.

Also on Friday, three soldiers from the 430th Brigade were killed after their tank was blown up in northern Gaza.

Additionally, a number of soldiers, including members of the Paratroopers Brigade and the 7th Armored Brigade, were wounded in Lebanon.

“The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment, their families have been notified,” the Israeli military said.

It didn’t disclose the exact circumstances under which Israeli soldiers were killed and wounded, or where the incidents took place.

Also on Friday, Hezbollah carried out a wave of drone and missile operations against a variety of Israeli targets that killed at least two settlers and left two dozen others injured.

Amid the mounting losses and strikes by Hezbollah, the Israeli army’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi hinted at the possibility of an “end” to the war with Hezbollah.

“In the north, there is a possibility of reaching a sharp end,” he said.

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