Militants kill 5 Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Israeli strikes kill 51 Palestinians
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In a separate development, Israel said that it targeted a senior Hamas militant with a rare airstrike in northern Lebanon that killed three people and wounded 13 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
The soldiers were killed roughly two weeks after Israel reported one of its deadliest days in months in Gaza, when seven soldiers were killed after a Palestinian attached a bomb to their armored vehicle.
An Israeli security official said that explosive devices were detonated against the five soldiers during an operation in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza, an area where Israel has repeatedly fought regrouping militants.
Militants also opened fire on the forces who were evacuating the wounded soldiers, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the attack with the media.
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The military said 14 soldiers were wounded in the attack, two of them seriously. It brings the toll of soldiers killed to 888 since Hamas-led militants launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war.
In a statement, Netanyahu sent condolences, saying the soldiers fell 'in a campaign to defeat Hamas and to free all of our hostages.'
Health officials at Nasser Hospital, where victims of the Israeli strikes were taken, said one strike targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing four people. A separate strike in Khan Younis killed four people, including a mother, father, and their two children, officials said.
'He sleeps in the tent with his two children, Awda and Misk,' said Nisma al-Baiouk, the sister of one man killed. 'My nephew Awda has no face, his face is gone.'
Nasser Hospital records showed a total of 41 people killed on Tuesday.
In central Gaza, Israeli strikes killed another 10 people and wounded 72, according to Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp.
Israel's military had no immediate comment on the strikes, but it blames Hamas for any harm to civilians because the militants operate in populated areas.
The fighting has pushed the health care system in Gaza close to collapse. On Tuesday, the Palestine Red Crescent said the Al-Zaytoun Medical Clinic in Gaza City ceased operations after shelling in the surrounding area. It said the closure would force thousands of civilians to walk long distances to get medical care or obtain vaccinations for children.
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Trump has made clear that following last month's 12-day
White House officials are urging both sides to quickly seal an agreement that would bring about a 60-day pause in the fighting, send aid flooding into Gaza and free at least some of the remaining 50 hostages held in the territory. Netanyahu has said 20 are alive.
The initial Hamas attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier cease-fires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. The United Nations and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
The Israeli airstrike hit a car in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. The Israeli military said that it killed Mehran Mustafa Bajur, who it described as a key Hamas commander in Lebanon who had been involved in rocket attacks on Israel. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, fought a bruising war last year that nominally ended with a US-brokered cease-fire in November.
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Since then, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes in Lebanon targeting what it says are officials and facilities of Hezbollah and other militant groups. Most of the strikes have been in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah had a major military presence.
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