Israeli army says 1 more soldier killed in Gaza clashes

JERUSALEM (AA) - Another Israeli soldier was killed on Monday in clashes in the Gaza Strip, raising the army's death toll to 593 since Oct. 7, 2023, the military said.

Sergeant Matan Vinogradov, 20, from Battalion 932, was killed in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip, a military statement said without specifying the circumstances of the soldier's death.

Monday’s death brought to 250 the number of soldiers killed since Israel expanded its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, 2023.

According to military figures, 593 soldiers have been killed and 3,079 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 31,726 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in the enclave, and nearly 73,792 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most 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.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul