The army did not specify the exact location of the death of the soldier JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Thursday that a soldier had been killed in the north where troops are engaged in near-daily border clashes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The soldier “fell fighting in the north” on Wednesday, the military said in a statement, after two explosive drones were launched from Lebanon against the Israeli town of Hurfeish. The army did not specify the exact location of the death of the soldier, whom it identified on its website as Staff Sergeant Refael Kauders, aged 39. The military correspondent of the Times of Israel newspaper reported that the soldier was killed in a drone attack which also left nine other troops wounded, one of the seriously. Wednesday’s fatality takes the toll to at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians killed on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, according to the military, since clashes with Hezbollah began after the war with Hamas broke out in Gaza on October 7. In Lebanon, the violence has killed at least 455 people, mostly fighters but including 88 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Since the Gaza war broke out the Israeli military has lost 645 soldiers, including 294 in its campaign against Hamas in the Palestinian territory. The war in Gaza began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The militants also abducted 251 people, Israelis and foreigners, 120 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 41 the military says are dead. Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas and its bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have so far killed at least 36,586 people, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.