1 Israeli soldier killed, another seriously injured in northern Gaza, says army

​​​​By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Betul Yilmaz

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) - One Israeli soldier was killed, and another was seriously injured in the northern Gaza Strip on late Tuesday, the army said on Wednesday.

A military statement said that Alon Farkas, a 27-year-old reservist soldier from the 6646th Battalion, was killed in the fighting in the northern Gaza Strip.

Another reservist of the same battalion was seriously wounded in the same incident, the statement added.

According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the incident occurred in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.

The newspaper said that a gunman opened fire on the army forces while they were carrying out operations outside a military post in a newly created buffer zone between the Israeli border and an eastern neighborhood of Gaza.

The gunman ran away into a densely populated area, it said.

According to official figures from the Israeli military, at least 861 soldiers have been killed and 5,921 others injured in the Gaza war since October 2023.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 54,500 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 crimes against civilians in the enclave.