IDF names soldier missing in
Gaza as Oron Shaul, unknown if dead or alive.
"As long as the identification process hasn't finished, and there
are no unequivocal findings, he is still alive in our eyes," family says. Sgt.
Oron Shaul, 21, from Poriyah was named on Tuesday by the IDF as the soldier
currently missing in Gaza. Shaul was in the infantry APC targeted by Hamas in
an attack in Gaza on Sunday. It is unknown whether Sgt. Shaul is dead or alive
and the IDF is working intensively to find answers. The announcement came after
Hamas claimed to have kidnapped an Israeli soldier on Sunday, not clarifying if
he was alive or dead. Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the Hamas's armed wing, said
the soldier was seized in heavy fighting on the Gaza border. He displayed a
photo ID and army serial number of the man. However, no image of the soldier in
their hands was presented. A
spokesperson for the soldier's family, Racheli Gazit, said Tuesday that the
family will continue to believe Shaul is alive until they are definitively told
otherwise. "As long as the
identification process hasn't finished, and there are no unequivocal findings,
he is still alive in the family's eyes," she said. Following the attack, six bodies of
soldiers who were on board the APC when
it was hit were identified, the army said, but a seventh, Sgt. Shaul, who was
also on board remains unaccounted for.
In the incident, which occurred at 1:05 a.m. on Sunday morning, an APC
carrying soldiers from Golani’s 13th Battalion drove over and detonated an
explosive device.
The IDF had previously
announced on Sunday that the seven soldiers aboard the APC were killed in the
incident, but their names had not been released due to problems identifying
them. The families of the soldiers, however, were notified that their loved
ones had been killed in the incident.
In addition to Shaul, the IDF
on Tuesday released the names of the six additional soldiers who were killed in
the APC attack as Sgt. Max Steinberg, aged 24, from Beersheba; Stf.-Sgt. Shachar Tase, 20, from Pardesiya;
Stf.-Sgt. Daniel Pomerantz, 20, Kfar Azar; Sgt. Shon Mondshine, 19, Tel Aviv;
Sgt. Ben Itzhak Oanounou, 19, Ashdod; Stf.-Sgt. Oren Simcha Noah, 22, Hoshaya.
All six soldiers were from the Golani Brigade and have been promoted posthumously.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of
the Hamas's armed wing, said the soldier was seized in heavy fighting on the
Gaza border. He displayed a photo ID and army serial number of the man.
However, no image of the soldier in their hands was presented. A spokesperson for the
soldier's family, Racheli Gazit, said Tuesday that the family will continue to
believe Shaul is alive until they are definitively told otherwise.
"As long as the
identification process hasn't finished, and there are no unequivocal findings,
he is still alive in the family's eyes," she said. Following the attack, six
bodies of soldiers who were on board the
APC when it was hit were identified, the army said, but a seventh, Sgt. Shaul,
who was also on board remains unaccounted for.
In the incident, which
occurred at 1:05 a.m. on Sunday morning, an APC carrying soldiers from Golani’s
13th Battalion drove over and detonated an explosive device. The IDF had previously
announced on Sunday that the seven soldiers aboard the APC were killed in the
incident, but their names had not been released due to problems identifying
them. The families of the soldiers, however, were notified that their loved
ones had been killed in the incident.
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