Two Americans Among Israeli Soldiers Killed In Gaza

Two Americans were among the 13 Israeli soldiers killed Sunday in Gaza, the Associated Press reported.

Max Steinberg, 24, whose family lives in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California, and Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, of South Padre Island, Texas, died as part of the ground assault against Hamas. Steinberg was a sharpshooter for the Golani Brigade. Carmeli was a sergeant in the brigade.

Stuart Steinberg said he last spoke with his son at 4 a.m. PDT Saturday. Steinberg said his son had called to tell him he had suffered a sprained back in a tank collision.

The Israeli military identified four of the other dead soldiers as Maj. Tzafrir Bar-Or, 32, of Holon; Capt. Tzvika Kaplan, 28, of Kdomim; Sgt. Gilad Ya'akovi, 21, of Kiryat Ono, and Sgt. Oz Mandelovich, of Avtalion, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Seven of the dead soldiers died when their tank drove over an explosive device and caught fire, one died in a gun battle with Hamas, two died in another firefight a few hours later and three were killed by fire in a building they were investigating.