Tel Aviv (BN24) – Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said Tuesday, underscoring the unrelenting toll of the 21-month conflict as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President Donald Trump in Washington to discuss a ceasefire.
The soldiers were operating in the Beit Hanoun area when explosive devices detonated around them during what the military described as a mission targeting Hamas militants regrouping in neighborhoods Israel has repeatedly assaulted since the start of the war. As forces evacuated the wounded, militants opened fire, an Israeli security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. Two of the wounded were in serious condition.
The deaths brought Israel’s military toll to 888 since October 2023, when Hamas fighters carried out the cross-border attack that ignited the war. Tuesday’s fatalities came less than two weeks after another deadly ambush killed seven Israeli soldiers, part of a pattern of renewed militant resistance even in areas Israel has sought to control.
Netanyahu released a statement calling the fallen soldiers heroes who died “in a campaign to defeat Hamas and to free all of our hostages.” His government faces mounting domestic pressure to reach a truce deal amid polls showing broad public support for ending the fighting.
On the Palestinian side, health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes killed 18 people in several areas of Gaza. At least four were killed when a strike hit tents sheltering displaced families in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to staff at Nasser Hospital. Another strike there killed a mother, father, and their two children.
In central Gaza, airstrikes on a gathering in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed 10 people and wounded 72 others, Awda Hospital said in a statement. The Israeli military declined to comment on the strikes but said it holds Hamas responsible for any civilian casualties because the group embeds itself among civilians.
The bombardment has crippled Gaza’s health care system, already stretched by months of war and a crippling blockade. The Palestine Red Crescent said Tuesday it had shut the Al-Zaytoun Medical Clinic in Gaza City after shelling in surrounding areas endangered staff and patients. The closure leaves thousands of civilians with few options for care or vaccinations for children.
Trump, who has signaled impatience with the conflict after last month’s 12-day Israel-Iran flare-up, is pressing both sides to finalize a proposal that would halt fighting for 60 days, send large-scale humanitarian aid into Gaza and secure the release of at least some of the 50 remaining hostages, including 20 believed to be alive.
However, negotiations remain deadlocked over whether a truce would be a temporary pause or a path to ending the war. Hamas has insisted it will release all hostages only in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has rejected that demand, saying the war will end only if Hamas disarms and relinquishes control of Gaza — conditions the group refuses to accept.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack, which killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel and led to the abduction of 251 hostages, Israel’s military response has devastated Gaza. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 57,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, though United Nations officials consider its casualty figures the most credible tally available.
AP
