The IDF is still investigating what caused a deadly tank explosion in southern Lebanon overnight that killed four soldiers. The main assessment is that something penetrated the tank, possibly an anti-tank missile or another projectile, but investigators have not ruled out a technical malfunction in which ammunition detonated inside the vehicle.
The incident happened shortly after midnight in the village of Tebnit, when a force from Battalion 52 went out to rescue an engineering vehicle that had become stuck. All four soldiers inside the tank were killed. In a separate incident shortly afterward, five additional soldiers were wounded by a drone, one of them seriously.
Among those killed was Lt. Col. Dor Gadalia Ben Shimchon, 32, the commander of Battalion 52 in the 401st Brigade, from Kibbutz Beit HaShita. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters. The names of the other fallen soldiers have not yet been cleared for publication.
Ben Shimchon came from a family of soldiers. He and four of his brothers enlisted in the 401st Brigade, while another brother joined the Golani Brigade. His wife serves as a combat officer in the Intelligence Corps and Border Defense. He took command of Battalion 52 in April, about a week after the previous commander was seriously wounded in combat. Fellow officers said, “Ben Shimchon took on the command in a difficult moment,” and that he led the battalion “with determination and responsibility” over the last two months of fighting.
