By Zein Khalil and Ahmed Asmar
JERUSALEM / ANKARA (AA) – An Israeli soldier was killed and two others were injured during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday.
A military statement said the dead soldier was part of the army's Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion.
The army said the incident is being investigated, including the possibility of "friendly fire."
According to military figures, at least 857 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 5,891 others injured since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The Israeli army intensified its air assaults in Gaza in the past few days, killing more than 500 Palestinians and injuring hundreds.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November 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.