The Israeli military reports that seven of its soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip. They say a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armoured vehicle. Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials report that 79 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the strip.
The attack on the Israeli troops, which occurred on Tuesday, marks one of the deadliest incidents for the army in Gaza in recent months. It has drawn immediate attention back to the ongoing conflict with Hamas after nearly two weeks dominated by the tension between Israel and Iran.
Among the 79 deaths reported in Gaza, 33 people were killed while attempting to access aid.
Israel’s military operations in Gaza are ongoing following the October 7 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas.
US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire have repeatedly stalled.
Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the army’s chief spokesman, stated that the soldiers were attacked on Tuesday in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where the army has been conducting operations intermittently throughout the war.
“Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,” he said.
The army also reported that another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Younis.
Further details were not provided, but Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel that it had ambushed Israeli soldiers who were taking cover inside a residential building in the area.
Since the war began with the October 7 2023 Hamas attack, more than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed, including over 400 during the fighting in Gaza.
The initial Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and 251 individuals were taken hostage.
Around 50 hostages remain in captivity, with at least 20 believed to be alive.
The Israeli offensive has caused widespread devastation in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is affiliated with the Hamas government, reports that more than 56,000 people have been killed.
This death toll is the highest in any round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict to date.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but states that over half of the deceased are women and children.
The ministry also reported that 5,759 people have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.
Israel maintains that it only targets militants and attributes civilian deaths to Hamas’s operations in densely populated areas.
Israel claims that over 20,000 Hamas militants have been killed, but it has not provided evidence to substantiate this claim.
Hamas has not issued any statements regarding its casualties.
In a separate incident, Israeli forces shot and killed a 66-year-old Palestinian woman during a raid on Wednesday in east Jerusalem, according to her husband and a local Palestinian official.
Joudah Al-Obeidi, 67, a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp, stated that his wife, Zahia Al-Obeidi, was standing on the roof of their home when Israeli forces stormed the camp and shot her in the head.
He emphasized that she posed no threat.
“It is a crime,” he told The Associated Press. “What danger did a sick 66-year-old woman pose to them?”
Israeli police have stated that they are investigating the incident. They reported that a woman arrived at a military checkpoint with “serious penetrating injuries” and was pronounced dead.
The police added that Israeli forces fired at “rioters” who threw rocks and heavy objects at them during the operation. One officer was admitted to hospital with a head injury sustained from a large rock.
Marouf Al-Refai, the Palestinian official, stated that Israeli forces raided the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Ms al-Obeidi with a shot to the head at approximately 10pm local time and took her body away.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites, in the 1967 Middle East war.
It considers the area to be part of its capital, a claim that is not internationally recognized.
Palestinians seek an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
