Israelis mourn soldier Almog Shalom killed in explosion in Rafah operations

(11 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem - 11 June 2024
1. Coffin containing Sergeant Almog Shalom being carried in
2. Mourners crying
3. Coffin covered by Israeli flag carried by soldiers
4. Close of mourner crying
5. UPSOUND (Hebrew) Simantov Shalom, father of Almog Shalom: "I promise you Almog to keep everyone united like you liked, I love you my boy"
6. Close of mourners crying
7. Soldiers hugging Almog's relatives
7. Soldiers fire rifle salute
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of Israeli soldier Sergeant Almog Shalom in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Almog was of one of four soldiers killed Monday in an explosion in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The explosives the Israeli army was using to clear the building were triggered prematurely, causing it to collapse, killing the four soldiers and wounding 11 more.

Hamas said that it had booby trapped the building and attacked the soldiers with mortars after the explosion.

Shalom, from the Givati Brigade, was 19.

The military targeted the building because they believed there was a Hamas operative inside who was involved in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held in Gaza for five years, according to Israeli media.

Israel launched what it says is a limited ground operation in parts of Rafah in early May.

Some one million Palestinians, most of them already displaced from other parts of Gaza, have fled the offensive in Rafah. The United Nations estimates 200,000 to 300,000 people still remain in the city.

The military says at least 298 soldiers have been killed since the start of the Gaza ground operation following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel that triggered the war.

AP Video by Moshe Edri

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