Staff Sergeant Michael Tyukin, 21, "fell in combat in southern Lebanon," the army said in a brief statement. An army spokesman told AFP he was killed by a Hezbollah drone strike.

In total, 25 Israelis have been killed - 24 soldiers and one civilian contractor - since hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah resumed on March 2, when the Shiite militant group reopened thr front in support of Tehran, following Israeli-US strikes.