JERUSALEM, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that one of its soldiers was killed and three others seriously injured in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.

The killed soldier was G'haleb Sliman Alnasasra, a 35-year-old tracker from the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, according to the statement.

Another IDF tracker and two female soldiers were seriously injured, it added.

Israel's Channel 12 News reported that Hamas militants emerged from a hidden tunnel shaft and fired an RPG at an IDF force, injuring the two female soldiers.

According to the report, after about half an hour, a rescue force arrived at the scene and an explosive device was detonated against it. As a result, Alnasasra was killed, and the other tracker was wounded.

Earlier on Saturday, the IDF said that its armored forces killed more than 40 Hamas militants in the Rafah area, southern Gaza Strip, over the weekend. ■