Israel says soldier killed during ground incursion into southern Lebanon

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) — The Israeli army said one of its soldiers was killed Wednesday during a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

"Captain Eitan Oster, 22, a team leader in the Egoz Unit, was killed in battle in Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

Earlier, journalist Amit Segal from broadcaster Channel 12 had shared the soldier's name, photo, and unit on Telegram, indicating that he had been killed in Lebanon the previous night.

The Israeli army has stated that its soldiers engaged in close-range clashes with fighters of the Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon, without providing further details.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring over 2,950 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The top leadership of Hezbollah was killed in the Israeli assaults, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala