Israel on Wednesday reported one of its deadliest days in Gaza in months as its military said seven soldiers were killed when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle, while health officials in the battered enclave said Israeli attacks killed 79 people over the past day.
The attack on the Israeli troops, which occurred on Tuesday, quickly drew the nation’s attention back to the grinding conflict with the Hamas group after nearly two weeks of war between Israel and Iran.
Among the 79 reported killed in Gaza were 33 people who died while trying to access aid. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
Israel returns its attention to Gaza
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. US-led ceasefire efforts have repeatedly stalled.
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the army’s chief spokesman, said the soldiers were attacked in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where the army has operated on and off throughout much of the war.
"Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success," he said.
The army said another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Younis. It gave no further details, but Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building.
Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza.
The initial Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Some 50 hostages remain in captivity, at least 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinians eager for a ceasefire of their own
With a fragile ceasefire holding between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump said there has been "great progress" in Gaza ceasefire talks, without elaborating.
"I think we’re going to have some very good news," Trump told reporters at the NATO summit. He credited the US interference in the Israel-Iran war for progress on Gaza, saying that "I think that it helped a little bit, it showed a lot of power."
Some Palestinians in Gaza City expressed frustration that the war has dragged on for nearly two years, while the conflict between Israel and Iran lasted 12 days before a fragile ceasefire.
"I live in a tent and now my tent is gone too and we’re living in suffering here. The war between Israel and Iran ended in less than two weeks and we’ve been dying for two years," said Um Zidan, a woman displaced from northern Gaza.
Gaza health authorities had announced on Tuesday that the number of Palestinians killed in the war has risen above 56,000. Experts say Israel’s blockade and military campaign have driven the population to the brink of famine.
Mazen al-Jomla, a displaced resident of Shati camp, questioned why war in the coastal enclave has stretched on, noting that Israel’s assault on Iran was based on accusations of possessing nuclear weapons.
"We have been suffering for two years; from horrors, destruction, martyrs and injured people," he said. "What do they (Israel) have left here? There are no houses, trees, or rocks, or humans left. Everything was destroyed."
First aid convoy in months reaches Gaza City
The war has triggered a spiraling humanitarian crisis in the territory, which only worsened when Israel cut off aid for weeks earlier this year. Israel is now letting a limited amount of goods into the territory, which aid groups say is too little.
On Wednesday, aid reached Gaza's main city for the first time since March after deliveries were plagued by looting and coordination issues between aid agencies and the Israeli military.
People cheered as a convoy of aid trucks, some carrying flour, arrived.
Ahmad Nattat said he hoped regular aid deliveries would replace having to go to collection points by the American-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which have been chaotic and fatal due to stampedes and gunfire.
"Instead of those young men putting their lives at risk to get flour if they’re lucky … there is aid now that could be fairly distributed among all the people," he said, standing between tents and rubble of destroyed buildings. "I pray to God that it’s distributed quickly to people so everyone can have some aid."
Deadliest round of fighting
The latest reported Palestinian death toll of 56,156 is higher than in any previous Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The health ministry in Gaza doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The ministry said the dead include 5,759 who have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire.
Israel says it only targets gunmen and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, which operates in heavily populated areas. Israel says over 20,000 Hamas militants have been killed, though it has provided no evidence to support that claim. Hamas has not commented on its casualties.
Violence also rages in Jerusalem and the West Bank
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that three people were killed after Jewish settlers stormed a town in the occupied West Bank.
Najeb Rostom, head of Kafr Malk near Ramallah, said more than 100 settlers entered the town Wednesday evening, set property ablaze and opened fire on residents who tried to stop them.
The Israeli military confirmed that settlers set fire to property in the town and said five were arrested. It said soldiers opened fire on Palestinians who had thrown rocks on forces and that there were a number of people killed and wounded as a result.
In east Jerusalem, a 66-year-old Palestinian woman was shot and killed during an Israeli raid on Wednesday in east Jerusalem, her husband said.
Joudah Al-Obeidi, a 67-year-old resident of the area's Shuafat refugee camp, said his wife, Zahia, was standing on the roof of their home when Israeli forces stormed the camp. He said police shot her in the head, and that she had posed no threat.
Israeli police confirmed they were operating in the area and had opened fire at protesters who threw stones at them. But they had no information about the shooting of the woman, saying only that a woman had been pronounced dead after arriving at a military checkpoint with "serious penetrating injuries," and said they were still investigating.
