EIGHT Israeli soldiers have been killed in a blast in the Gaza Strip as forces continue to push in and around the southern city of Rafah.
It marks the deadliest incident for the IDF in the Strip since January, with all troops said to have been killed inside an armoured personnel carrier.
ReutersHamas claims to have ambushed an Israeli tank, killing and wounding a number of soldiers[/caption]
GettyThe tanks had been on the move at the time of the explosion[/caption]
AFPSeveral strikes in Rafah had already killed a number of civilians[/caption]
At some point during the convoy, the vehicle was hit by a major explosion.
Hamas had earlier said its fighters had ambushed an armoured personnel carrier, killing and wounding a number of Israeli soldiers, in the Tel Al-Sultan area in the west of Rafah.
However, it was not immediately clear if it was a bomb planted ahead of time or if Hamas operatives had approached the vehicle with an explosive device and directly placed it on the CEV, the Times of Israel report.
It’s also being investigated whether explosives stored on the outside of the CEV contributed to the massive blast.
There was no gunfire at the time of the incident and the vehicle had been on the move.
The soldiers had been driving in a convoy at around 5am following an overnight offensive, during which troops under the 401st Armoured Brigade killed some 50 gunmen, according to the IDF.
Troops have been advancing in the area for weeks, with shells landing in the coastal area where thousands of Palestinians, many of them displaced several times already, have sought refuge.
Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the start of the war in October.
Israeli air strikes also hit several areas of Gaza, killing at least 19 Palestinians according to residents.
Four others were killed in separate attacks in the south, medics said.
The Israeli military on Saturday said its forces in Rafah had captured large quantities of weapons, both above ground and concealed in the extensive tunnel network built by Hamas.
It said militants had on Friday fired five rockets from the humanitarian area in central Gaza, with two falling in open areas in Israel and three falling short in Gaza.
“This is a further example of the cynical exploitation of humanitarian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields by terror organisations in the Gaza Strip for their terrorist attacks,” the military said.
The Islamic Jihad armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said on Saturday Israel could only regain its hostages in Gaza if it ended the war and pulled out forces from the enclave.
A spokesman for Al-Quds Brigades made the remarks in a video posted on Telegram.
Islamic Jihad is a smaller ally of Hamas, which led a rampage in southern Israel on October 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 100 hostages are believed to remain captive in Gaza, although at least 40 have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
Since a week-long truce in November, repeated attempts to arrange a ceasefire have failed, with Hamas insisting on a permanent end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to end the war before Hamas is eradicated.
At least 37,296 Palestinians, at least 30 of them in the past 24 hours, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign to eliminate Hamas, according to the Gaza health ministry.
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