Five Israeli soldiers, 51 Palestinians killed in Gaza amid discussions of ceasefire
The bloodshed came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the White House for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump about a ceasefire plan to pause the Gaza fighting. While there was no announcement of a breakthrough, there were signs of progress toward a deal.
The soldiers' deaths could add to pressure on Netanyahu to strike a deal, as polls in Israel have shown widespread support for ending the 21-month war.
A senior Israeli official said that 80 to 90 per cent of the details had been ironed out and a final agreement could be days away. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because they weren't authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations with the media.
In a separate development, Israel said that it targeted a senior Hamas militant with a rare airstrike in northern Lebanon. The strike 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 armoured vehicle.
An Israeli security official said 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.
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.'
Israeli report accuses Hamas of using sexual assault as 'tactical weapon of war' on Oct. 7
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.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear that following last month's 12-day war between Israel and Iran, he would like to see the war in Gaza end soon.
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.
A sticking point has been whether the ceasefire will end the war altogether. Hamas has said that it's willing to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu says the war will end once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile – something it refuses to do.
The initial Hamas attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. 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 UN 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 U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November.
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.
Around 250 people have been killed in strikes in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to the Health Ministry.
Hezbollah, which suffered heavy losses in the war, has been under increasing international and domestic pressure to give up its remaining arsenal, but has refused to do so before Israel withdraws from five key border points it's occupying in southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.
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While many Druze in Syria have said they do not want Israel to intervene on their behalf, factions from the Druze minority have also been suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus, particularly after the attacks on Alawites and other minority groups. ------ By Ghaith Alsayed And Abby Sewell Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
