5 Israeli troopers injured in Gaza Strip clashes, says army

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army said on Monday that an officer and four soldiers were seriously injured during fighting in the northern and southern Gaza Strip.

An officer and soldier from the Paratroopers Brigade in addition to a soldier from the Yalam unit were seriously injured Sunday in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said in a statement.

Two more soldiers from the 601st Battalion sustained serious injuries in the northern Gaza Strip, the statement added.

The army did not specify the circumstances of the soldiers' deaths

Figures released by the army showed that 1,400 soldiers had been wounded since Israel expanded its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27.

According to military figures, at least 580 soldiers have been killed and 2,966 others injured since the outbreak of the conflict on Oct. 7.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip killing more than 29,690 Palestinians since a cross-border incursion by Hamas.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio