Dayr al Balah, Gaza Strip.- The Israeli Army said on Saturday that eight of its soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip, the scene of a war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for more than eight months.
Those eight soldiers “fell during an operational activity in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Army said in a statement.
According to several Israeli media, the soldiers were killed by the explosion of their vehicle near the city of Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian territory.
Asked about the circumstances of these deaths, the Army confirmed the explosion of a Namer armored personnel carrier.
The Israeli Army launched an assault on the city of Rafah on May 7, which provoked disapproval from the international community.
Among the eight deceased soldiers was capital Wasem Mahmud, 23, the statement said.
These deaths bring to 306 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its ground offensive in the Palestinian territory on October 27.
The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7 when militants from the Islamist movement killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 251 in southern Israel, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
The Israeli Army estimates that 116 people are still kidnapped in Gaza, although 41 of them are believed to be dead.
In response, Israel launched an offensive that has left at least 37,296 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory, ruled by Hamas since 2007.
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