UPDATE - 9 more Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza battles: Army

CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, WITH UPDATED DEATH TOLL

By Ikram Kouachi

ANKARA (AA) – The Israeli army on Sunday announced the death of another soldier in Saturday night clashes with Palestinian resistance forces in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total death toll to nine troops, with six others injured.

The Israeli army said in a statement that Master Sgt. Nadav Issachar Farhi, 30, and Master Sgt. Eliyahu Meir Ohana, 28, were among four killed in the central Gaza Strip, while five others were killed in the enclave's south.

Six more soldiers were seriously injured, according to the statement.

The number of Israeli officers and soldiers killed since the beginning of the war on Oct. 7 climbed to 485.

Since the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip, killing at least 20,258 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 53,688 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.