Eight troops from the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion were killed in a Rafah explosion on Sunday, in the deadliest incident for the IDF since January.

According to an initial IDF probe, the troops were all killed inside a Namer armored combat engineering vehicle (CEV). There were no survivors. This raised the tolls of soldiers killed in the war in Gaza to 309.

The head of the Druze community in Israel later announced the death of Captain Wassem Mahmoud in Rafah on Saturday. The 7 others who were killed in the same Namer tank together with him were not yet named.

The names of the other seven fallen IDF soldiers, whose families have been notified, have been released for publication:

-Captain (Res.) Eitan Koplovich, 28 years old, from Jerusalem, a combat officer in the 129th Armored Battalion, 8th Brigade, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.

-Master Sergeant (Res.) Elon Waiss, 49 years old, from Psagot, a combat soldier in the 129th Armored Battalion, 8th Brigade, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.

-Sergeant Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21 years old, from Beit Shemesh, a combat soldier in the 601st Battalion, Iron Trails Division (401st), fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

-Sergeant Itay Amar, 19 years old, from Kokhav Yair-Tzur Yigal, a combat soldier in the 601st Battalion, Iron Trails Division (401st), fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

-Staff Sergeant Stanislav Kostarev, 21 years old, from Ashdod, a combat soldier in the 601st Battalion, Iron Trails Division (401st), fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

-Staff Sergeant Orr Blumovitz, 20 years old, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur, a combat soldier in the 601st Battalion, Iron Trails Division (401st), fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

-Staff Sergeant Oz Yeshaia Gruber, 20 years old, from Tal Menashe, a combat soldier in the 601st Battalion, Iron Trails Division (401st), fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.

May their memories forever be a blessing.

Watch as 47-year-old Master Sergeant (Res.) Elon Weiss, who was killed in the expolosion, visited his students at AMIT in Ma’ale Adumim, the school where he taught, just about a month and a half ago.