Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Gaza, the military says.
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Eight Israeli soldiers were killed while riding in an armored vehicle in southern Gaza on Saturday, the Israeli military said, as the Israeli offensive in the southern city of Rafah continued to exact a toll among its troops.
The deaths occurred around 5:15 a.m. as Israeli troops operated in the northwest part of Tel al-Sultan, a neighborhood in western Rafah, the Israeli military said. The eight soldiers — who belonged to the military’s engineering corps — were riding in an armored vehicle when the blast occurred, the military said.
Hamas, the Palestinian armed group, said in a statement that its militants had fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli military vehicles in western Rafah, killing some soldiers. It was not immediately clear whether it was an explosive device that damaged the vehicle or anti-tank missile fire, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, told reporters.
The explosion damaged the vehicle but might have also ignited munitions inside, Israeli military officials said, adding that the blast was severe enough to make finding and identifying the bodies difficult.
Israel has fought for more than eight months in Gaza in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, which killed roughly 1,200 in Israel — mostly civilians — and took some 250 others hostage. More than 36,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Hamas has fought a dogged guerrilla war, resisting Israel’s efforts to decisively defeat the organization, take down its leaders and bring back many of those abducted during the surprise Oct. 7 attack. According to the Israeli military, the campaign has killed an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 militants in Gaza. Israeli officials have not provided evidence for the calculation.
More than 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza began in late October. At the end of January, about 20 Israeli soldiers were killed as they prepared to demolish buildings inside Gaza near the border with Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel publicly mourned the soldiers’ deaths and called for Israel to remain committed to its military’s goals of destroying Hamas, bringing home the hostages and “ensuring Gaza can no longer threaten Israel.”
“There is no substitute for victory,” Mr. Netanyahu said, adding, “Do not let anyone distract you from the simple and clear fact: We must remain dedicated to the war aims, despite the heavy and agonizing price.”
Mr. Netanyahu has been criticized by parts of the Israeli public, the families of hostages held in Gaza and former security officials. Some argue that only a settlement with Hamas will return the remaining 120 living and dead captives; others have argued that his failure to articulate a clear postwar alternative to Hamas has left the country trapped in a holding pattern in Gaza.
Israeli forces rescued four hostages in a rescue operation in central Gaza last weekend that also left scores of Gazans dead, according to local health officials. Admiral Hagari applauded the mission but added, “We must be honest — we cannot bring home everyone in this manner.”
Israeli forces have closed in on Rafah in recent weeks, sweeping along the border area with Egypt in an effort to destroy tunnels they say Hamas has used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. They have also conducted raids into the city itself. The United Nations estimates that more than one million Palestinians have fled Rafah.
In the northern town of Beit Jann — populated by Arab Israelis who adhere to the Druze faith — residents mourned Waseem Mahmoud, one of the fallen soldiers. The Druze occupy an unusual middle ground in Israel: Arab practitioners of a minority religion who generally serve in Israel’s military and security forces.
The town’s residents had planned to observe Eid al-Adha, a holiday shared by both Muslims and Druze. But all of the public festivities were called off in light of the news, said Nazih Dabour, the town mayor.
“We can’t bury our children and celebrate on the same day,” said Mr. Dabour, who paid the family a condolence call on Saturday. “It’s a huge tragedy for us.”
— Aaron Boxerman reporting from Jerusalem
Key Developments
The U.N. says two-thirds of Gaza’s roads have been damaged, and other news.
Two-thirds of the roads in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed as of the end of May, the United Nations said, based on a satellite image analysis. About 680 miles of roads have been destroyed, 220 miles have been severely affected and more than 900 miles have been moderately affected, according to a report from the U.N. Satellite Center released Friday. Aid groups trying to distribute humanitarian assistance in Gaza and civilians trying to flee to safer areas have said they have been hampered by the extent of damage.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, will head to Washington for meetings with U.S. officials later this month, the Pentagon said in a statement on Saturday. Neither Israel nor the United States explicitly outlined the purpose of the visit. The Biden administration has voiced concern over Israel’s plans — or lack thereof — for postwar Gaza, as well as escalating cross-border strikes between Israel and the politically powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The search for a Filipino sailor missing from a cargo ship that was damaged in an attack by an Iran-backed Yemeni militia stretched into Saturday after the rest of the 22-member crew was evacuated Friday, the Philippines’ migrant workers ministry said. The Greek-owned ship, the Tutor, was abandoned after the attack by the Houthi militia on Wednesday and was drifting in the Red Sea, according to a British maritime agency run by the country’s navy. The U.S. military said late Friday that it had destroyed seven Houthi radars in Yemen, the latest in a wave of strikes targeting the rebels.
Anti-government protesters fill the streets in Tel Aviv.
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Protesters filled the streets Saturday in Tel Aviv to demand early elections and the return of the remaining hostages taken during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.
The latest round of protests came as the Israeli military lost eight soldiers to an explosion in southern Gaza, one of the single biggest setbacks for the military during the war.
Chanting slogans and waving Israeli flags, protesters called for an immediate cease-fire to bring the hostages home and end the war. Others called for the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Saturday that Israel must press on with the war to destroy Hamas despite “the heavy and agonizing price.”
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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of the captives, dedicated Saturday’s protests, on the eve of Father’s Day, to the fathers currently held hostage by Hamas and those whose children are still in captivity.
Weekly protests in front of Israel’s Parliament, the Israeli military headquarters and in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv have become a regular feature in Israel, especially as frustrations and anger grow over the war in Gaza.
Some 120 hostages still remain in Gaza, though it is unclear how many are still alive. Last week, the Israeli army freed four hostages in a daring rescue operation that Hamas said killed more than 200 Palestinians.
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— Anjana Sankar
Top News
Accumulating waste poses catastrophic health risks in Gaza, UNRWA says.
Mountains of trash have accumulated across the Gaza Strip, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warned this week, deepening the wartime perils for the vast number of displaced Palestinians sheltering in often squalid encampments or in the crowded homes of relatives.
UNRWA said on social media on Thursday that more than 330,000 tons of solid waste had accumulated in or near populated areas throughout Gaza, which it said posed “catastrophic environmental & health risks.” Many displaced people do not have access to clean water, working toilets or reliable medical care.
Among the dangers the agency has highlighted is hepatitis A, a virus, often transmitted through person-to-person contact or contaminated food, that may cause liver disease. More immediately, those infected can suffer debilitating fatigue, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, jaundice and other problems.
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Malak Nassar, 21, who fled the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya months ago, was recently diagnosed with hepatitis A at a clinic in the central Gazan town of Deir al Balah. She had been unwell: pale and lethargic. Her mother, Fadia Nassar, 42, initially thought she might have the flu.
“I didn’t expect her to get hepatitis at all,” the elder Ms. Nassar said. “I knew it was spreading already, but I did not want to believe Malak had it.”
Less than a month ago, Ms. Nassar’s sister-in-law, a doctor, died of hepatitis, she said, adding, “I was very worried when I heard Malak had it.”
Lack of fuel for waste-removal vehicles has compounded sanitation problems, and UNRWA accuses the Israeli military of blocking UNRWA members from accessing landfills. In addition, many of the agency’s sanitation centers, machinery and trucks for removing trash have been destroyed.
UNRWA has said that for the sake of public health, access to the enclave’s two main landfills must be ensured, upgrades must be made to temporary dump sites and additional funding is needed to maintain waste-removal vehicles and supplies of containers.
The Nassar family has been sheltering in a crowded apartment with relatives in Deir al Balah and buying drinking water from local shops. Recently, the elder Ms. Nassar found worms in the water. Her daughter became ill soon after.
“At the clinic, I saw dozens of people who were told by doctors that they had hepatitis,” Ms. Nassar said. “I felt somewhat relieved that Malak did not look as sickly pale as they did.”
Now, the family members are trying to protect themselves by paying much higher prices to buy bottled water that comes from outside Gaza, and good quality food and vegetables.
But Ms. Nassar said their options to try to stay healthy were limited “in such miserable conditions.”
— Raja Abdulrahim and Abu Bakr Bashir
