An Israel Defense Forces doctor was killed Monday during combat operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the military announced.

Capt. Dr. Ori Yosef Silvester, 30, from Tel Aviv, served as a physician in the Givati Brigade’s 424th Infantry Battalion. He was killed in a Hezbollah drone strike that also wounded six other Israeli soldiers.

According to the IDF, three of the wounded — two officers and one soldier — were seriously injured. The others sustained lighter injuries.

Silvester’s death brings the number of fallen Israeli troops since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, to 952, according to official military figures. Hezbollah has now killed 13 IDF soldiers since the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect on April 17 — a ceasefire increasingly visible only in diplomatic paperwork.

The attack came as Israeli forces continue expanding operations in southern Lebanon after crossing the Litani River. The IDF has been moving toward areas near Nabatieh, a major Hezbollah stronghold, as part of a broader campaign to push the Iranian-backed militia away from Israel’s northern communities.

The strike also followed public comments by US President Donald Trump, who said he had urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch a major raid on Beirut. Netanyahu’s office responded that Israel would strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut if the group continued firing on Israeli cities and civilians, while IDF operations in southern Lebanon would proceed as planned.

Hezbollah resumed rocket and drone attacks on Israel in March, prompting a wider Israeli aerial and ground campaign.

For Israel, the equation remains blunt: if Hezbollah keeps firing across the border, the ceasefire is not restraint. It is camouflage.

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