Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Israel’s worst day of losses in Gaza, the military said on Tuesday while also claiming to have encircled southern Gaza’s main city and killed dozens of Palestinian fighters in a major ground assault of the new year.
Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said 21 soldiers were killed when two buildings they had mined for demolition exploded after militants fired at a nearby tank. Earlier, three soldiers were reported killed in a separate attack in southern Gaza.
“Yesterday we experienced one of our most difficult days since the war erupted,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “In the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.”
The deaths came as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) attacked the western part of Khan Younis, the main city in the south of the enclave which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have fled areas to the north. Israel says the city is now the principal base of Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza.
“Over the past day, IDF troops carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Younis and deepened the operation in the area. The area is a significant stronghold of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade,” the military said.
“Ground troops engaged in close-quarters combat, directed (air) strikes, and used intelligence to coordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists.”
Gazans say the advancing Israeli forces have since Monday blockaded and stormed hospitals in the crowded city, leaving the wounded and dead beyond the reach of rescuers.
Bodies were being buried in the grounds of Khan Younis’s main Nasser hospital because it was unsafe to leave to reach the cemetery. Another Khan Younis hospital, Al-Khair, was stormed by Israeli troops who arrested staff there, and a third, Al-Amal, run by the Palestinian Red Crescent, was unreachable, according to Palestinian officials.
The Red Crescent said a tank shell had hit its headquarters on the hospital’s fourth floor, and Israeli forces were firing from drones on anyone who moved nearby, making it impossible to dispatch ambulances for the entire Khan Younis area.
Israel says Hamas fighters operate in and around hospitals, making them legitimate targets. Hospital staff and Hamas deny this.
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REUTERS
