Israeli army reservist killed in southern Gaza: Military

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - Another Israeli army reservist was in southern Gaza City, the military said Saturday.

“Sergeant First Class (res.) Malkia Gross, 25, from the Armored Corps, was killed in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip,” it said.

The fatality brought the death toll for Israeli soldiers since Oct. 7 to 665, including 313 officers and soldiers who were killed in the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 27.

Data also indicated that 3,894 officers and soldiers have been injured since the start of the onslaught against Gaza, including 1,977 in ground battles.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

More than 37,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala