Israeli army says 3 soldiers wounded in central Gaza

By Said Amori and Rania Abu Shamala

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) - The Israeli army announced Thursday that three of its soldiers were wounded during fighting in central Gaza, including an officer who sustained “serious” injuries.

In a statement, the army said that a combat officer from Battalion 414 was seriously injured during the fighting.

The statement said that one regular soldier and one reservist were also “lightly wounded” in the incident.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, said Thursday that they killed and wounded Israeli soldiers by detonating a tank and targeting military sites in Gaza City, while also shelling the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years and further tightened the siege in March when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 66,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The UN and rights groups have repeatedly warned that the enclave is being rendered uninhabitable, with starvation and disease spreading rapidly.