Israeli Army Investigates Tank Blast in Southern Lebanon That Killed Four Soldiers

The IDF is still investigating what caused a tank to explode overnight in southern Lebanon, killing four soldiers. The leading theory is that something penetrated the tank, possibly an anti-tank missile or another projectile, but investigators are also considering a malfunction in which ammunition detonated inside the tank.

The deadly incident happened shortly after midnight in the village of Tebnine, when a force from Battalion 52 went out to rescue a stuck engineering vehicle. All four soldiers in the tank were killed. In a separate incident shortly afterward, five more soldiers were wounded by a drone, including one seriously.

Among the dead was Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Shimhon, 32, the commander of Battalion 52 in the 401st Brigade, from Kibbutz Beit Hashita. He left behind a wife and two daughters. The names of the other fallen soldiers have not yet been cleared for publication.

Ben Shimhon came from a family of fighters. He and four of his brothers enlisted in the 401st Brigade, and another brother joined Golani Brigade. His widow serves as a combat officer in the IDF Intelligence and Border Corps. He took command of Battalion 52 in April, about a week after the previous commander was severely wounded in fighting. People who knew him in the military said, “Ben Shimhon took on command in a difficult moment,” and that he led the battalion “with determination and responsibility throughout the past two months of fighting.”