IDF soldier Yosef Yehuda Hirak is killed in battle in northern Gaza Strip

IDF Sergeant Yosef Yehuda Hirak, 22, from the community of Harasha in Samaria, a soldier in the 601st Engineering Battalion, 401st Brigade, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Monday night.

The number of IDF casualties in the Iron Swords War now stands at 857.

Yosef Yehuda is survived by his wife Emuna, whom he married seven months ago, his parents, and three sisters. He was the son-in-law of Yehuda Eliyahu, director-general of the Settlement Administration in the Defense Ministry.

Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Religious Zionism Party Bezalel Smotrich wrote on 𝕏 last night: "Heartfelt condolences to my brother and friend, my partner in the journey and the work of over 25 years, and Director General of the Settlement Administration in the Ministry of Defense, Yehuda Eliyahu and his family, on the fall of his son-in-law, the husband of his daughter Emuna, Yosef Yehuda Hirak, of blessed memory, in our existential war in the Gaza Strip. Condolences to the Hirak family and the residents of Harasha and the renewed City of David."

About a week and a half ago, it was cleared for publication that Sgt. Yishai Elyakim Urbach, a soldier in the 605th Engineering Battalion, and Staff Sergeant Yam Fried, a fighter in the Golani reconnaissance unit, both fell during battles in two separate incidents in the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah.

Urbach, 20, from Zichron Yaakov, was killed in the first incident. The unit, along with a Golani reconnaissance unit, was inside a building in Rafah when Hamas terrorists fired an RPG missile at it. The building collapsed on the soldiers; Urbach was killed instantly, and two others were wounded. A helicopter evacuated the wounded – one in serious condition and the other in moderate-to-serious condition – to a hospital in central Israel.

About two hours after that incident, a tank from the 188th Brigade ran over a powerful roadside bomb. As a result of the explosion, all members of the tank crew were injured. Golani fighter Staff Sergeant Yam Fried, 21, from Sal’it, was killed. The wounded were evacuated by helicopter with varying degrees of injuries.

Earlier that same week, Master Sergeant (res.) Dejen Daniel Salo, 41, from Rehovot, a fighter in the Combat Engineering Corps, was killed in an operational road accident in the Gaza Envelope. Salo, a heavy equipment operator in the 5067th Engineering Battalion, was struck by a vehicle in an accident at the border fence, near Nahal Oz, close to a compound from which trucks depart for engineering work in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is still investigating the circumstances that led to the serious accident.