Israel suffers heaviest loss since start of war
24 SOLDIERS KILLED AS TROOPS ENCIRCLE KHAN YOUNIS
Palestinian fighters carried out the deadliest single attack on Israel’s forces since the war started on October 7, killing 24 soldiers, the Israeli military said yesterday.
Hours later, the military announced that ground forces had encircled the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest. That marked a major advance, but it was unclear how much closer it would bring Israel to defeating Hamas or freeing Israeli hostages — two central war aims that have proved increasingly elusive — as cease-fire talks appear to be gathering pace.
Israelis divided
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the soldiers, who died when the blast from a rocket-propelled grenade triggered explosives they were laying. But he vowed to press ahead until “absolute victory,” even as Israelis are increasingly divided over whether it’s possible to both crush Hamas and free scores of captives.
A senior Egyptian official said Israel has proposed a twomonth cease-fire in which the hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.
The official said Hamas rejected the proposal and is insisting that no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza.
Egypt and Qatar — which have brokered past agreements between Israel and Hamas — were developing a multistage proposal to try to bridge the gaps, the official said. Families of the hostages have called for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas, saying time is running out to bring their relatives home alive.
Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Israel’s worst day of losses in Gaza, the military said yesterday, as its forces encircled southern Gaza’s main city, trapping Palestinian residents trying to flee.
Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said 21 soldiers were killed when two buildings they had mined for demolition exploded after militants fired at a nearby tank. Earlier, three soldiers were reported killed in a separate attack.
“Yesterday we experienced one of our most difficult days since the war erupted,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“In the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.” The deaths came the day the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) launched their biggest operation in a month, to seize remaining parts of Khan Younis, Gaza’s main southern city, which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
“Over the past day, IDF troops carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Younis,” the military said.
Battle rages
“Ground troops engaged in close-quarters combat, directed strikes and used intelligence to coordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists.” Israeli tanks, advancing west towards the Mediterranean, shut the road out towards the coast yesterday, blocking the escape route for civilians trying to reach Rafah, the last town on Gaza’s southern edge — now crammed with more than half the enclave’s 2.3 million people.
“I am trying to leave for Rafah but the tanks are now very near to the coast and are firing toward the west,” Shaban, 45, an electrical engineer with four children, said by phone.
At least 195 Palestinians were killed in the space of 24 hours, raising the documented toll to 25,490, according to Palestinian health officials, who say thousands more dead are feared lost in the rubble.
Hospital turns cemetery
The advancing Israelis have blockaded hospitals, which Palestinian officials say makes it impossible to rescue the dead and wounded. At the European Hospital, reached by Reuters in southern Khan Younis, Ahed Masmah brought in five corpses, piled on a mattress on his donkey cart. “I found them face-down in the street,” he said. “I did a good thing and brought them in.”
At Khan Younis’s main Nasser hospital, the biggest still functioning in the Gaza Strip, bodies were being buried on the grounds because it was unsafe to go out to the cemetery. Footage filmed by Palestinian journalist Hamdan Al Dahdouh showed persistent gunfire hitting the top of the main building.
“I am besieged at Nasser Hospital now and my life is in great danger. The smell of death, the only smell I know, is filling the place,” Dr Mahmoud Abu Shammala posted on Facebook.
Another Khan Younis hospital, Al Khair, was stormed by Israeli troops who arrested staff, according to Palestinian officials. Al Amal Hospital was unreachable; the Red Crescent which runs it said a tank shell had hit its fourth-floor headquarters there, a civilian had been killed at the entrance and Israelis were firing from drones on anyone who moved nearby, making it impossible to dispatch ambulances.
“Terrified staff, patients and displaced people are now trapped inside the few remaining hospitals in Khan Younis as heavy fighting continues,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, said in a statement.
Hamas says it is getting stronger
Palestinians hailed the Israeli losses as a victory.
“The resistance said it is going to make Gaza a graveyard for the occupation, and this is what is happening” said Abu Khaled, sheltering in a school in Deir Al Balah just north of Khan Younis.
Israelis spoke of the losses as a necessary sacrifice in a war against Hamas fighters who attacked Israeli towns on October 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing some 250 hostages.
“You know, it’s our sons, it’s our brothers, it’s terrible — but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do so that October7 doesn’t happen again,” said Blina Rhodes on the street in Jerusalem.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has controlled Gaza since 2007.
Sami Abu Zuhri, head of the political office of Hamas in exile, said the Israeli losses were proof that the armed wing of Hamas was only getting stronger.