The commander of the 401st Brigade, Colonel Ehsan Daxa, 41, from Daliyat al-Carmel, was killed Sunday when his tank was destroyed by an IED in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip.
In addition, a combat officer from the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Brigade was seriously injured. He was taken to hospital and his family was informed.
Daxa is the highest-ranking officer killed since the beginning of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, alongside Colonel Yitzhak Ben Basht, after three other brigade commanders fell in battle on October 7.
In Daliyat al-Carmel, where he lived, a painful goodbye was said to him. Council head Rafiq Halabi wrote on social network X that "Daliyat al-Carmel wears black."
Halabi added: "How heroes fall. It is with sorrow, pain and great grief that Daliyat al-Carmel, the IDF, the Druze community and the State of Israel say goodbye to one of its heroes. Today, Colonel Ihsan Daxa fell in Gaza - a hero, brave, a fighter who became a legend, humble, who fought since the beginning of the war."