21-year-old Israeli soldier killed by friendly Gaza fire: IDF

An Israeli soldier was killed in the southern Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Staff Sgt. Ofri Yafe, 21, from HaYogev, a moshav in northern Israel, served in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed earlier media reports that he was killed by friendly fire.

He was reportedly killed during fighting in the Khan Yunis area on Tuesday night.

“My wife Sara and I send our heartfelt condolences and share in the deep sorrow of the family of Staff Sergeant Ofri Yaffe, of blessed memory, a fighter in the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit, who fell from friendly fire in the painful incident in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said.

“The entire nation of Israel bows its head over the fall of Ofri, of blessed memory, who went out to fight bravely in order to protect Israel’s security,” the premier continued. “May his memory be blessed and forever cherished.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz expressed condolences, saying he was grieving Yafe’s death and that “the entire State of Israel mourns and bows its head.”

The fatality raises the total number of IDF soldiers killed to 925 since the war began with the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.

Sporadic skirmishes have continued in the Strip along the Yellow Line separating IDF-controlled areas despite October’s U.S.-backed ceasefire as the Hamas terrorist group continues near-daily violations of the truce.

IDF Sgt. Maj. (res.) Asael Babbad, 38, from the Binyamin region of Samaria, died on Jan. 22 from wounds sustained in battle in Rafah on Oct. 19, 2025.

Babbad served in the 941st Battalion of the Menashe Regional Brigade.

The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday eliminated a terrorist in Gaza who posed a threat to ground troops in the northern Strip.

Soldiers operating under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire “identified a terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the troops, posing an imminent threat to their safety,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The Yellow Line is a boundary established by the IDF under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.

Concrete barriers topped with yellow-painted posts mark the area to which the IDF has withdrawn. The Yellow Line leaves Israel in control of roughly half of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

“Following the identification, the IAF eliminated the terrorist to neutralize the threat,” the military said Tuesday. “IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed under the ceasefire agreement and continue to operate to address any immediate threats.”

In a separate statement on Tuesday, the military said troops in the southern Strip discovered a Hamas weapons depot containing a “large amount” of firearms, an RPG, and explosives.

“IDF troops will continue to operate to eliminate the terrorists hiding in the tunnels,” the statement added.

On Sunday, the IAF carried out airstrikes across Gaza in response to truce violations, killing terrorists, including one who infiltrated the Jewish state as part of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.

The military said in a statement on Sunday night that it “views any violation of the ceasefire agreement with utmost severity,” and vowed to continue operating against “any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

The targeted terrorists were said to have been attempting “to reestablish the military capabilities of the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and to advance terrorist attacks.”

In one of the strikes, the Israeli Air Force killed terrorist Ahmad Bayouk, who infiltrated the IDF’s Re’im base during the Oct. 7 assault, the military said, sharing a photo of Bayouk inside Israeli territory.

Phase 2 of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza calls for Hamas terrorists to lay down arms and the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to the Strip.

Trump warned on Jan. 21 that Hamas would be “blown away very quickly” if it fails to disarm during the current phase.

However, top Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of the peace plan in recent weeks, including disarmament, despite having agreed to it in October.

Hamas’s charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and references parts of the Quran that call for Muslims to kill Jews.