UPDATE - Al-Qassem Brigades say they killed Israeli soldier after failed capture attempt in southern Gaza

REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, ADDS ISRAELI ARMY STATEMENT

By Mohamed Majed and Rania Abu Shamala

GAZA CITY, Palestine/ISTANBUL (AA) – The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, said Wednesday that they killed an Israeli soldier and seized his weapon in southern Gaza.

The brigades said in a statement that their fighters attacked a group of Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in the Abasan al-Kabira area east of Khan Younis.

The fighters targeted a Merkava tank and an armored personnel carrier with anti-tank shells and attempted to capture an Israeli soldier.

“Field conditions, however, did not allow his capture,” it added.

The brigades added that its members hit two Israeli military excavators with rocket-propelled grenades in Abasan al-Kabira.

The Israeli army acknowledged in a statement the death of the soldier following an attempted capture.

During the attack, the fighters “attempted to abduct a soldier who served as an engineering vehicle operator,” it said.

Separately, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that on Wednesday, two Israeli soldiers were moderately injured in Khan Younis after an anti-tank missile was fired by “Hamas operatives," without providing further details.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 57,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of disease.

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 on the enclave.