By Said Amori
JERUSALEM (AA) – An Israeli soldier was killed during clashes in the northern Gaza Strip.
In a statement Thursday, the army said that Staff Sergeant Ron Epshtein, 19, served in the Tzabar Battalion of the Givati Brigade.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that Epshtein was killed during fighting in Jabaliya after an artillery shell hit a building.
The newspaper noted that Epshtein was the 29th soldier killed since the Israeli army launched a raid last month in the northern Gaza Strip.
The latest death raised the officially reported death toll of the Israeli army since the start of its war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 to 804.
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October last year, killing over 44,000 people, most of them women and children, and injuring more than 104,000.
The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn increasing international recognition, with figures and institutions labeling the events as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala