Hamas kills seven Israeli soldiers and IDF 'shot 40 people seeking food'

Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas attack in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday in one of the deadliest incidents for the Israeli military, the force said yesterday.

- William Christou

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks killed 74 people in the Palestinian territory, according to local health authorities.

The seven Israeli soldiers, in the 605th combat engineering battalion, were killed after militants planted a bomb on their vehicle while they were driving in Khan Younis, causing it to catch fire. Hamas later claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Rescue forces and helicopters were dispatched to the scene and made attempts to extract the soldiers but were unsuccessful," said Brig Gen Effie Defrin, an Israeli army spokesperson. He added that the 605th battalion was finding and demolishing tunnels, as well as killing militants, in Khan Younis.

Their deaths brought the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 to 879.

More than 56,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza by Israel, according to the health ministry, since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.

At least 40 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza were shot by Israeli forces on Tuesday, local medics and officials said.