The Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday evening that four soldiers had been killed in an IED blast in the southern Gaza Strip.

The slain soldiers were identified as IDF Maj. Omri Chai Ben Moshe, 26, from Moshav Tzafria; Lt. Ron Arieli, 20, from Hadera; Lt. Eran Shelem, 23, from Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan; and Lt. Eitan Avner Ben Itzhak, 22, from Har Bracha.

Ben Moshe served as a company commander in the “Dekel” Battalion, Officers’ Training School, and was also a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade, the military said in an official death notice.

Arieli, Shelem and Itzhak were cadets in the “Dekel” Battalion, while also serving in the Golani Brigade, the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) and Commando Brigade, respectively.

Another IDF soldier was seriously

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