JERUSALEM: Israel on Wednesday reported one of its deadliest days in Gaza in months as its military said seven soldiers were killed when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle, while health officials in the battered enclave said Israeli attacks killed 79 people over the past day.
The attack on the Israeli troops, which occurred on Tuesday, quickly drew the nation’s attention back to the grinding conflict with the Hamas militant group after nearly two weeks of war between Israel and Iran.
Among the 79 reported killed in Gaza were 33 people who died while trying to access aid. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks.
The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
Israel returns its attention to Gaza
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. US-led ceasefire efforts have repeatedly stalled.
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the army’s chief spokesman, said the soldiers were attacked in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where the army has operated on and off throughout much of the war.
“Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,” he said.
The army said another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Younis. It gave no further details, but Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building.
Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza.
The initial Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Some 50 hostages remain in captivity, at least 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinians eager for a ceasefire of their own
With a fragile ceasefire holding between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump said there has been “great progress” in Gaza ceasefire talks, without elaborating.
“I think we’re going to have some very good news,” Trump told reporters at the NATO summit. He credited the US interference in the Israel-Iran war for progress on Gaza, saying that “I think that it helped a little bit, it showed a lot of power.”
Some Palestinians in Gaza City expressed frustration that the war has dragged on for nearly two years, while the conflict between Israel and Iran lasted 12 days before a fragile ceasefire.
“I live in a tent and now my tent is gone too and we’re living in suffering here. The war between Israel and Iran ended in less than two weeks and we’ve been dying for two years,” said Um Zidan, a woman displaced from northern Gaza.
Gaza health authorities had announced on Tuesday that the number of Palestinians killed in the war has risen above 56,000. Experts say Israel’s blockade and military campaign have driven the population to the brink of famine.
Mazen Al-Jomla, a displaced resident of Shati camp, questioned why war in the coastal enclave has stretched on, noting that Israel’s assault on Iran was based on accusations of possessing nuclear weapons.
“We have been suffering for two years; from horrors, destruction, martyrs and injured people,” he said. “What do they (Israel) have left here? There are no houses, trees, or rocks, or humans left. Everything was destroyed.”
First aid convoy in months reaches Gaza City
The war has triggered a spiraling humanitarian crisis in the territory, which only worsened when Israel cut off aid for weeks earlier this year. Israel is now letting a limited amount of goods into the territory, which aid groups say is too little.
On Wednesday, aid reached Gaza’s main city for the first time since March after deliveries were plagued by looting and coordination issues between aid agencies and the Israeli military.
People cheered as a convoy of aid trucks, some carrying flour, arrived.
Ahmad Nattat said he hoped regular aid deliveries would replace having to go to collection points by the American-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which have been chaotic and fatal due to stampedes and gunfire.
“Instead of those young men putting their lives at risk to get flour if they’re lucky … there is aid now that could be fairly distributed among all the people,” he said, standing between tents and rubble of destroyed buildings. “I pray to God that it’s distributed quickly to people so everyone can have some aid.
