Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on April 7 the deaths of four troops during fighting against the Hamas Movement in the southern Gaza Strip a day earlier.
The four were a captain and three sergeants from the Commando Brigade’s training base. Their deaths brought the toll of slain Israeli troops in the ground operations against Hamas in Gaza to 260. More than 1,550 others have been wounded in the Strip, so far.
According to an initial IDF probe, the four troops were killed on April 6 when Palestinian fighters came out of a tunnel in a destroyed building and opened fire at troops carrying out a patrol along a logistics route in the city of Khan Younis. The fighters managed to flee back into the tunnel.
Soldiers who tried to pursue the attackers noticed that the escape route was booby-trapped. Because of this, they stayed back.
A main battle tank was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade fired by another cell in the same area, though there were no injuries in that attack. The tank returned fire, killing fighters of the second cell, according to the IDF’s probe.
Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades reported the death of up to 14 Israeli troops after a series in the area of al-Zana and the al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Younis on April 6. The group said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops from point blank range and targeted them and their vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades and explosive devices.
Also on April 6, two soldiers of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 46th Battalion were seriously wounded in the central Gaza Strip, the IDF said.
The troops were injured in an accident involving a tank shell that exploded inside the vehicle, according to an initial IDF probe.
The Israeli losses came as the IDF marked six months since the war on Hamas began with the group’s large-scale surprise attack on Israel in October.
The IDF is yet to achieve any of the objectives it had set for the war. Hebrew media reported on April 7 reported that the 98th Paratroopers Division had withdrawn all of its brigades from Khan Younis, including the Commando Brigade that took the latest losses.
Now, Israeli military presence in Gaza remains limited to small areas in the northern part of the Strip as well as the central region, where the 933rd “Nahal” Brigade is still deployed.
With no progress in the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, the war in Gaza could drag on for a year or even more. The death toll in the Strip has already reached 33,137 with more than 75,815 wounded, according to the latest update by the Hamas-run health ministry. Women and children make up most of the victims.
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