'Fauda' actor seriously injured in Gaza

Israeli actor-singer Idan Amedi, best known for starring in the hit Netflix series Fauda, was seriously injured while fighting as an IDF reservist in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli diplomat Avia Levi shared the news of Amedi's injury in a post on microblogging site X.

"Idan Amedi, one of Fauda's' actors, has been seriously injured in a battle in Gaza. We pray and pray for your speedy recovery," Levi posted.

According to the Times of Israel, Amedi, 35, was fighting as an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reservist. He was airlifted to a hospital on Monday where he was sedated and received treatment.

His father later told an Israeli news outlet that his son was no longer in danger.

As a reservist, Amedi was serving in the Combat Engineering Corps when he was injured. He was brought to Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat Gan at about 4 pm on Monday and underwent urgent, serious, and lengthy surgery, according to media reports.

Hours before he was injured, Amedi was interviewed by an Israeli channel where he said “a little tired, but fine”.

Asked about his current mission, the actor had said, “It’s crazy, what they built here. The operation here is on a very central (Hamas tunnel) route. We found kilometers of tunnels here, weaponry, even special weaponry. We’ve been busy the past two days trying to destroy it."

The actor is best known for playing Sagi Tzur, a soldier in an elite IDF unit, in Fauda, which means “chaos” in Arabic. He enlisted as a reservist after Israel announced a war against Hamas in October.

Lior Raz, the lead star of Fauda, and the show's co-creator Avi Issacharov have also returned to the military.

On October 7, Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel that day, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people hostage, over 100 of whom were released during a cease-fire in November.

Since the war began, over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.