IDF Chief of Staff Ashkenazi tours Gaza battlefields

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi visted the Gaza Strip on Thursday, where he received an assesment of the IDF's campaign against Hamas in the Strip.

Ashkenazi toured the outskirts of Gaza City, where the Golani and Givati infantry brigades have been battling Gaza militants.

While in Gaza, the IDF's top officer met with the head of the Givati Brigade, Colonel Ilan Malka, and the head of the Golani Brigade, Colonel Avi Peled.

Peled was lightly wounded in a clash with Gaza militants earlier in the week that left three IDF soldiers dead.

IDF troops attacked five squads of Palestinian gunmen in Gaza on Thursday, as an IDF officer was killed during a gunbattle with Hamas militants in the coastal strip.

Major Roey Rosner, 27, an officer in the Kfir infantry brigade, was killed when his unit was hit with an anti-tank missile while on patrol in the former settlement of Netzarim. Another soldier was lightly wounded in the incident.

The IDF said it hit more than 25 targets across Gaza, including nine weapons caches, most of which were located under militants' homes.

	IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.