Five Israeli soldiers killed in a tank incident in southern Lebanon were laid to rest on Sunday at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery. The soldiers, all members of the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, died in an incident on Friday involving a military tank.

Among those buried was Staff-Sergeant Nave Habshoosh, 20, from Geva Binyamin. Habshoosh’s family had hoped he might return home this week, according to his father, Haim Habshoosh, who spoke with Army Radio. In the hours before the incident, Nave had messaged his father indicating a possibility of visiting his family but had asked that this not be shared with his mother so as to manage expectations. The family was only informed Sunday morning that his body had been identified and that he would be returning home for burial.

“We understood that he had been killed but that they [the IDF] couldn’t get to him, since the tank was in a problematic area,” Haim Habshoosh said. He added that while he was aware his son was serving at the front, it remained difficult to confront the reality of the loss. “We knew there was risk, but the IDF is strong, and we have no other choice,” he said.

The other soldiers killed in the same incident were Lieutenant-Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben-Simhon, 32, Staff-Sergeant Yoav Klein, 21, and Staff-Sergeant Liav Kababia, 20. All four had been serving together in the 52nd Battalion.

The circumstances surrounding the tank incident have not been fully detailed. The military has acknowledged that the tank was operating in a challenging area in southern Lebanon, which contributed to the difficulty in recovering the soldiers immediately.

Funerals were held with full military honors at Mount Herzl, Israel’s national military cemetery, where families, comrades, and officials paid tribute to the fallen soldiers. The incident marks one of the deadliest losses for the Israel Defense Forces in recent confrontations along the Lebanon border.