At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the military said, as forces continued to advance in and around the southern city of Rafah and strikes reached several areas of Gaza, killing at least nineteen Palestinians. The soldiers, all members of a combat engineering unit, were in an armored vehicle that was hit by an explosion that detonated the engineering material it was carrying, apparently contravening standard practices, according to the military.
An investigation is underway into the early morning incident in the Tel al-Sultan area, west of Rafah. The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed the vehicle had become trapped in a prepared minefield that triggered the explosion. Israeli tanks advanced on Tel al-Sultan and shells fell on the coastal area, where thousands of Palestinians, many of them already displaced several times, have sought refuge. “Hamas practices a
Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to end the fighting still appears far off, more than eight months after the war began in October, as almost daily cross-border fire exchanges intensify. with Hezbollah militia fighters in southern Lebanon.
In Israeli airstrikes on two houses in the suburbs of Gaza City, according to residents, at least fifteen people were killed. Four others died in separate attacks in the south, according to doctors. The Israeli military declared on Saturday that its forces in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city near the border with Egypt, had captured large quantities of weapons, both above ground and hidden in the extensive network of tunnels built by Hamas.
On Friday, militants had fired five rockets from the humanitarian zone in central Gaza, two of which landed in open areas of Israel and three in Gaza. “This is yet another example of the cynical exploitation of humanitarian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip for their terrorist attacks,” the army said.
Intensified cross-border shooting by the Lebanese movement Hezbollah against Israel could trigger a serious escalation, the Israeli military declared on Sunday. “Hezbollah’s growing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a broader escalation, which could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement on English.
Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched the largest barrages of rockets and drones to date in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli army, parallel to the Gaza war. The United States and France are working on a negotiated solution to hostilities on Lebanon’s southern border.
Hezbollah says it will not stop firing unless the Israeli military offensive on Gaza stops. “Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians until security is restored along our border with Lebanon,” Hagari stated.
