The Israeli military says five of its soldiers have been killed after Palestinian fighters detonated explosive devices during an operation in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon area.
Israeli forces also killed at least 54 Palestinians in dawn raids on Tuesday, as pressure mounted on Israel to strike a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The Israeli military said the five soldiers, aged between 20 and 28, “fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip”, while 14 others sustained injuries – two of them “severely wounded”.
Reporting from Jordan’s capital Amman, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said a “preliminary investigation” into the deaths of the soldiers had been opened.
“What we understand is that the Israeli soldiers were attacked, then the unit that tried to come to their rescue was also attacked, and then a third group of soldiers that tried to extract them was also attacked,” she said.
Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 887 of its soldiers have been killed.
Tuesday’s deaths came two weeks after Israel reported one of its deadliest days in months in Gaza, where seven soldiers were killed after a bomb was attached to their armoured vehicle.
Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said the latest attack was “an additional blow … in an area the occupation thought was safe”, warning that the group would “inflict additional losses” on the Israeli military “every day”.
‘Difficult morning’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented a “difficult morning” as he visited Washington, DC, for talks with United States President Donald Trump, as the two leaders discussed the forced relocation of Palestinians out of Gaza.
Last week, Trump had predicted Israeli and Hamas negotiators holding indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar could reach a deal this week.
The bloodshed in Gaza increases the pressure on Netanyahu to agree to the current US-backed proposals for a 60-day ceasefire to halt the 22-month offensive. Israeli polls have shown widespread support for ending the war.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X: “For the sake of the fighters, for the sake of their families, for the sake of the hostages, for the sake of the State of Israel: this war must be ended.”
Al Jazeera’s Odeh said the opposition figures in Israel say soldiers have been dying in Gaza “not to protect Israel, but to protect Netanyahu’s coalition government”.
‘Sleepless night’ in Gaza
Meanwhile, Israel continued its genocidal onslaught on Gaza, with medical sources telling Al Jazeera that at least 54 Palestinians had been killed since dawn on Tuesday.
“It was a sleepless night here in Gaza, marked by an intensification of air attacks and the use of multiple aerial vehicles, including fighter jets, drones and helicopters to pummel residential areas and spaces that had been designated as ‘safe zones’,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
At least nine Palestinians were killed during an Israeli drone attack on a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area near Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.
In a separate dawn attack, two people were killed and others injured in Israeli air raids on the Hakr al-Jami area in Deir el-Balah, the Wafa news agency reported, citing medical sources.
Israeli planes also bombed a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, reportedly killing at least four people.
The fighting has pushed the healthcare system in Gaza close to a total collapse. The Palestine Red Crescent on Tuesday said the Zeitoun medical clinic in Gaza City had ceased operations after shelling in the surrounding area.
It said the closure would force thousands of civilians to walk long distances for medical care or children’s vaccinations.
Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum said Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza issued a statement on Monday, saying it would run out of fuel “within the next few hours” and calling on the international community to put pressure on Israel to allow deliveries.
