Bar Rahav, a member of the Israeli national water polo team, has been killed in combat in the Gaza Strip.

The 21-year-old cadet, who was training to become an officer in the Combat Engineering Corps, from Ramat Yishai died when an antitank missile was fired on his contingent inside the Palestinian region.

He was posthumously promoted to second lieutenant.

Rahav attended high school in the moshav of Nahalal and was the star of Kiryat Tiv'on's water polo team, captaining the squad to national championship gold.

He was then selected to play for Israel's national team.

After graduating, Rahav was offered special benefits by the Defence Forces because of his athletic career but he chose to join a combat unit and serve like the rest of his peers.

The Olympic Committee of Israel said it, along with the nation's coaches and athletes, bow to his memory and sent wishes of a speedy recovery to the wounded.

Rahav will be laid to rest this evening in Kiryat Tiv'on.

The death toll in Gaza continued to rise this weekend as today witnessed the most intense shelling since the launch of Israel's operation against Hamas militants 13 days ago.

At least 62 people are reported to have been killed in Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, with the total number of Palestinians killed now standing at more than 400 and a further 2,600 wounded since the offensive began.

The United Nations said the majority of those killed are civilians.