3 Israeli soldiers killed, officer critically injured in northern Gaza

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Three Israeli soldiers were killed and an officer was critically wounded Wednesday when their tank struck a booby-trapped pit in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

“Three soldiers from the 46th Armored Battalion…part of the 162nd Division, were killed in combat in northern Gaza,” the military said in a statement, adding an officer from the battalion was critically injured.

The Israeli army did not provide any details, but Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the tank they were in was lured into an ambush and drove over explosive devices in a booby-trapped area. The massive explosion killed the three soldiers and injured the fourth.

With the latest deaths, the officially announced toll of Israeli army fatalities since the beginning of an incursion into northern Gaza on Oct. 6, 2024 has risen to 46 officers and soldiers, including six killed in the last 48 hours, according to Israeli Army Radio.

Overall, the total officially announced death toll of Israeli military personnel since the start of the war has reached 830 officers and soldiers, including 395 since the start of a ground offensive in Gaza on Oct. 27, 2023, according to army data published on its website.

Additionally, 5,589 troops have been injured since the war began, including 2,535 since the ground invasion of Gaza.

The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed almost 46,000 people, mostly women and children, since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

In November last year, 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.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala