Two Israeli Reserve Soldiers Killed by IDF Drone Explosion in Gaza

The IDF confirmed Friday the deaths of two reserve soldiers, Sergeant Major Nadav Kali, 24, from Har Halutz, and Sergeant Major Ofek Moalem, 23, from Jerusalem, who were killed Thursday by an exploding IDF drone in a Gaza Strip outpost. The incident occurred Thursday afternoon while soldiers from the 7007th reserve battalion of the 16th Brigade, who have been in Gaza for two weeks, were operating a drone. The drone crashed at their outpost, and when the soldiers approached it, it exploded, fatally wounding Kali and Moalem. They were evacuated by helicopter to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where their deaths were pronounced. The IDF is conducting an operational investigation into the circumstances of the incident.

This marks the first time IDF soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip in over seven months. The last fatality in Gaza was Sergeant Major Ofri Yaffe, 21, who was mistakenly identified and killed by IDF fire in the southern Gaza Strip after an October 2025 ceasefire. The most recent IDF combat deaths occurred approximately a month and a half ago, on August 5, when Captain (res.) Harel Birnstock, 34, from Nokedim in the West Bank, and Sergeant Major Tamir Waknin, 33, from Eilat, were killed by an explosive device in Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon. Four other reserve soldiers were seriously injured in that incident.

Since the start of the war, 970 IDF soldiers have fallen, including 475 killed in combat in the Gaza Strip and 87 in combat in southern Lebanon.