Israel has been operating in Gaza since the Hamas militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. U.S.-led ceasefire efforts have repeatedly stalled.
Unsuccessful rescue attempt
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the army’s chief spokesman, said the soldiers were attacked in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where the army has operated on and off throughout much of 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 said another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Younis.
It gave no further details, but Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building in the area.
Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza.
The initial Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Some 50 hostages remain in captivity, at least 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Deadliest round of fighting
The Israeli offensive has devastated Gaza and killed over 56,000 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, a branch of the Hamas government.
The death toll is by far the highest in any round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead were women and children.
The ministry said the dead include 5,759 who have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, which operates in heavily populated areas. Israel says over 20,000 Hamas militants have been killed, though it has provided no evidence to support that claim. Hamas has not commented on its casualties.
Palestinian woman killed in Jerusalem
Meanwhile, a local Palestinian official in the occupied West Bank said Israeli forces shot and killed a 66-year-old Palestinian woman during a raid in east Jerusalem.
Israeli police said they were investigating the incident, saying a woman had arrived at a military checkpoint with “serious penetrating injuries” and been pronounced dead.
Marouf Al-Refai, the Palestinian official, said Israeli forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Zahia Obeidi with a shot to the head around 10 p.m. and seizing her body thereafter.
Israeli forces arrested her husband and sons later that night, Refai said. Their whereabouts were not immediately known, and police had no further details.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.
It considers the area to be part of its capital – a move that is not internationally recognized. Palestinians want an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP