UPDATE – 7 Israeli soldiers killed, 2 injured in fighting in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) – Seven Israeli soldiers were killed and two others injured in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said Wednesday.

“An officer and six combat engineers were killed yesterday in an APC explosion in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip,” a military spokesperson said in a statement.

The slain soldiers all served with the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion.

An initial investigation found that the seven were killed when an explosive device exploded at an armored personnel carrier in Khan Younis, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said that two other soldiers from the battalion were injured, including one seriously, after a D9 bulldozer was hit by an anti-tank missile in Khan Younis during a joint operation with the Golani Brigade 51.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, confirmed that its fighters had destroyed a D9 military bulldozer on Tuesday afternoon using a pre-prepared incendiary device, causing it to burn.

According to military figures, at least 879 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 56,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.