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The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged on July 2 that two of its soldiers were killed during fighting in the central part of the Gaza Strip a day earlier.
The two slain soldiers were a platoon sergeant and a deputy company commander in the 8th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 121st Battalion. Another reservist of the same unit was seriously wounded in the same incident, which was still being investigated by the IDF.
Their deaths brought Israel’s toll in ground operations against the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza and along its border 322. More than 1,977 others have been reportedly wounded in the Strip so far.
The IDF expanded operations in the southern Gaza area of Rafah and launched another operation in Gaza City’s Shejaiya area in the northern part of the Strip. Nevertheless, it continues to face fierce resistance from the Palestinians.
On July 1 and 2, Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, and that of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigades, released several videos showing their fighters blowing up IDF armored vehicles, sniping soldiers and firing mortars and rockets at gatherings in northern, central and southern Gaza.
So far, the Israeli war on Gaza has claimed the lives of 37,925 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip. More than 87,141 others have been wounded so far.
While the IDF is taking more and more losses in Gaza, the Israeli government appears to be determined to go on with the war on the Strip.
It’s worth noting that Israel has not yet achieved any of the goals it set for the war that was launched following the October 7 Hamas-led surprise attack. Hamas is still running Gaza, more than a hundred Israeli hostages taken to the Strip last October remain in the hands of the group and rockets continue to be fired from the Strip.
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