UPDATES INJURIES, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK
By Abdel Raouf Arnaout, Betul Yilmaz and Ahmed Asmar
JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) – An Israeli soldier was killed and four others were injured in fighting in the Gaza Strip, the army and local media said on Wednesday.
A military statement said that a reservist soldier from the 6646th Battalion was killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
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 Palestinian fighter opened fire on army forces while carrying out operations outside a military post in a newly created buffer zone between the Israeli border and an eastern neighborhood of Gaza.
Meanwhile, three soldiers were injured in a drone attack in Jabalia in northern Gaza, the Times of Israel news portal said, citing a military statement.
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.