Illustrative image (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb during operations in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip on May 2, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced.
The slain soldiers, two combat medics and a squad commander, all served in the ranks of the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion.
According to an initial IDF probe, the five troops were moving a Humvee armored vehicle in Jabalia, escorting an army fire engine that had entered Gaza to extinguish an armored personnel carrier that caught fire due to a technical issue.
On the way, the convoy was hit by an explosive device planted on the side of a road. It directly struck the Humvee, killing the three soldiers and wounding the other two.
The deaths brought the number of Israeli troops killed since the start of the large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza, codenamed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” to five.
Israel launched the offensive last month after calling up tens of thousands of reservists. Currently, five divisions are operating in Gaza. The IDF says that it aims to occupy 75 percent of Gaza within two months. More than two million Palestinians will be crammed in three isolated small zones in the southern, central and northern parts of the Strip.
In recent days, the al-Qassad Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, and the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, released several videos showing attacks on the IDF in different parts of the Strip. Most of the attacks were carried out using explosive devices.
Despite taking losses, the IDF will not likely back down. Israel appears to be determined to go on with its offensive. Talks on a new ceasefire and hostage deal are yet to bear any fruit. Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from the war has exceeded 54,500.
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