80 Israelis, including 64 soldiers, police killed in October amid ongoing conflict

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) — At least 80 Israelis, most of them soldiers taking part in offensives in southern Lebanon or Gaza, have been killed by the Hezbollah and Hamas groups this month.

In a comment on the figure, Israeli Army Radio dubbed the month "black October," as 64 soldiers and police, along with 16 civilians, were killed in either southern Lebanon and Gaza or in attacks inside Israel by Palestinians or rocket attacks from Lebanon and Iraq.

The broadcaster said 33 soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, while 16 were killed in the Gaza Strip.

In addition to the 16 civilians, other soldiers and police officers were killed in attacks inside Israel, including a drone strike by Lebanese group Hezbollah that killed four soldiers in an army base near the central city of Binyamina on Oct. 13, while two soldiers perished in another attack by an Iraqi group on Oct. 4.

Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last year.

As the conflict spread to Lebanon with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, nearly 2,800 people have been killed and more than 12,700 others injured in Israeli attacks since last year, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground assault into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar