The Israeli military said three soldiers, including a 70-year-old, were killed in south Lebanon, where its troops have battled Hezbollah since late September after a year of cross-border exchanges of fire.

According to AFP, the army announced two soldiers were killed in the same incident including 70-year-old reservist Ze’ev ‘Jabo’ Hanoch Erlich, after it had said that a 22-year-old soldier from Jerusalem “fell during combat in southern Lebanon”.

The deaths bring to 52 the army’s losses in Lebanon since the start of ground operations. Another soldier was heavily injured during the same incident that killed the two soldiers including Erlich, the military said, adding he had been taken to hospital.

The Yesha Council, an umbrella group representing Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, described Erlich as a “pioneer of research in geography, archaeology and Jewish history of Judea and Samaria” — as Israel calls the West Bank.

He lived in Ofra, one of the first settlements in the area.