Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon as part of Israel’s ongoing ground operation against Hezbollah, the military reported on Wednesday. Israel is in the “middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, 22; Captain Harel Etinger, 23; Captain Itai Ariel Giat, 23; Sergeant First Class Noam Barzilay, 22; Sergeant First Class Or Mantzur, 21; Sergeant First Class Nazaar Itkin, 21; Staff Sergeant Almken Terefe, 21 and Staff Sergeant Ido Broyer, 21, were all killed in combat in Lebanon, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Israel’s latest ground operation followed strikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The IDF has since killed much of Hezbollah’s leadership, and IDF and Hezbollah troops are now fighting at close range, the two groups said.
“I would like to send my deepest condolences to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “May God avenge their death. May their memory be of blessing. We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us. This will not happen — because we will stand together, and with God’s help — we will win together. We will return our hostages in the south, we will return our residents in the north, we will guarantee the eternity of Israel.”
Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran, has been constantly shelling northern Israel since October 2023, when fellow Iranian proxy terror group Hamas attacked the Jewish state. Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles into Israel on Tuesday, some of which were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems and some of which landed in the central and southern parts of the country.
Netanyahu said that Iran “will pay for” its most recent attack against Israel.
“The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies,” Netanyahu said. “[Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and [top Hamas military commander Mohammed] Deif did not understand this, [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and [Hezbollah chief of staff Fuad] Shukr did not understand this, and there are probably those in Tehran who do not understand this.”
President Joe Biden and the G7 discussed placing further sanctions on Iran on Wednesday, during which Biden expressed “the United States’ full solidarity and support to Israel and its people, and reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said in a statement. Biden, however, also told reporters that he would not support an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites.
“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us [G7 nations] agree that they have a right to respond but they should respond proportionally,” Biden said.