On Monday forces from the IDF’s Golani Infantry Brigade’s 13th Battalion, together with elements of its 188th Armored Brigade, took over and destroyed a central square in the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City called “Palestine Square.” In this square Hamas erected a statue glorifying the APC (armored personnel carrier) disaster from Israel’s 2014 Operation “Tzuk Eitan” (Operation Protective Edge). The IDF forces destroyed it.
לוחמי גולני השמידו את רחבת כיכר פלסטין, שבה עמד פסל האגרוף, ועליו העתק של הדסקית של אורון שאול ז"ל שנחטף באסון הנגמ"ש בצוק איתן pic.twitter.com/59fBGW5REV
— איתי בלומנטל ?? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) December 18, 2023
The monument depicted a fist coming out of an APC and three dogtags, one of which bore the name and ID number of the late Oron Shaul, an IDF soldier killed in the APC incident, and whose body is still held by the terrorist organization Hamas.
The commander of the 13th battalion: “We are here, the 13th battalion, at the place where the terrorist Hamas erected a statue glorifying the disaster that happened to the battalion during Tzuk Eitan cliff. We are sending a clear message to Hamas: wherever such a statue is erected, we will come and destroy it.”
In July 2014 an IDF APC broke down in the middle of an operation. As a result, seven soldiers were killed when the APC was hit by a rocket before it could be evacuated.
