Eight Israeli soldiers killed as fighting continues in Rafah

[Pelican Press 0]

Eight ******** soldiers ******* as fighting continues in Rafah

By James Mackenzie and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Eight ******** soldiers were ******* in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the military said, as forces continued to push in and around the southern city of Rafah and strikes hit several areas of Gaza, ******** at least 19 Palestinians.

The soldiers, all members of a combat engineering unit, were in an armoured carrier that was hit by an ********** that detonated engineering materials being carried on the vehicle, apparently in contravention of standard practice, the military said. It said the early morning incident, in the Tel al-Sultan area in the west of Rafah, was being investigated.

The armed wing of the ************ militant group ****** said the vehicle had been trapped in a prepared minefield that set off the **********.

******** tanks advanced in Tel al-Sultan and shells landed in the coastal area, where thousands of Palestinians, many of them displaced several times already, have sought refuge.

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the start of the war in October, with the near-daily cross-border exchanges of ***** with Hezbollah militia fighters in southern Lebanon intensifying.

In ******** airstrikes on two houses in Gaza City suburbs, residents said at least 15 people were *******. Four others were ******* in separate attacks in the south, medics said.

The ******** military on Saturday said its forces in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, close to the border with Egypt, had captured large quantities of weapons, both above ground and concealed in the extensive tunnel network built by ******.

It said militants had on Friday fired five rockets from the humanitarian area in central Gaza, two of which fell in open areas in ******* and three fell short in Gaza.

“This is a further example of the cynical exploitation of humanitarian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields by ******* organizations in the Gaza Strip for their ********** attacks,” the military said.

PROTESTS

The deaths of the eight soldiers, pushing the total number of ******** troops ******* in Gaza past 300, may complicate the political situation facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no proper strategy for Gaza.

Protests by families of hostages still held by ******, demanding an agreement to bring them home, have become weekly events, underscoring the divisions in ******** society which have reopened following a ******* of unity at the start of the war.

The Islamic ****** armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said on Saturday ******* could only regain its hostages in Gaza if it ended the war and pulled out forces from the enclave.

Islamic ****** is a smaller ally of ******, which led a rampage in southern ******* on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were ******* and more than 250 taken ********, according to ******** tallies. More than 100 hostages are believed to remain captive in Gaza, although at least 40 have been declared ***** in absentia by ******** authorities.

Since a week-long truce in November, repeated attempts to arrange a ceasefire have *******, with ****** insisting on a permanent end to the war and full ******** withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu refuses to end the war before ****** is eradicated.

At least 37,296 Palestinians, at least 30 of them in the past 24 hours, have been ******* in *******’s military campaign to eliminate ******, according to the Gaza health ministry.

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by David Holmes and Ros Russell)

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******** soldiers,Rafah,******** airstrikes,******,*******,Gaza City,southern city
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