Five Israeli soldiers killed in fighting in northern Gaza Strip
Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded by a roadside bomb in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun on Tuesday. Meanwhile, strikes across the territory left at least 18 Palestinians dead and ceasefire talks gained urgency during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington.
Five Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack in Gaza, the Israeli military said Tuesday, while health officials in the Palestinian territory said 18 people were killed in Israeli strikes.
An Israeli security official said explosive devices were detonated against the soldiers during an operation in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza, which was an early target of the war and an area where Israel has repeatedly fought regrouping militants.
Militants also opened fire on the forces who were evacuating the wounded soldiers, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to discuss the incident with the media.
The military said 14 soldiers were wounded in the attack, two of them seriously. It brings the toll of soldiers killed to 888 since the war against Hamas began in 2023.
The soldiers died roughly two weeks after Israel reported one of its deadliest days in months in Gaza, when seven soldiers were killed after a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armoured vehicle.
The bloodshed came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump about a ceasefire plan to pause the Gaza fighting. While there was no word of a breakthrough, the killings of the soldiers could add to the pressure on Netanyahu to strike a deal in Israel, where polls have shown widespread support for ending the war.
In a statement, Netanyahu sent his condolences for the deaths, saying the soldiers fell in a campaign to defeat Hamas and to free all of our hostages.
In central Gaza, Israeli strikes hit a group of people, killing 10 people and injuring 72 others, according to a statement by Awda Hospital in Nuseirat.
Health officials at the Nasser Hospital, where victims of the Israeli strikes were taken, said one of the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing four people. A separate strike in Khan Younis killed four people, including a mother, father, and their two children, officials said.
The fighting has pushed the health care system in Gaza close to collapse. On Tuesday, the Palestine Red Crescent said the Al-Zaytoun Medical Clinic in Gaza City ceased operations after shelling in the surrounding area. It said the closure would force thousands of civilians to walk long distances to get medical care or obtain vaccinations for children.
