Soldiers ambushed by Hamas militants
Israel reports 10 soldiers dead in its worst combat casualties since late October in the war in the Gaza Strip. The total number of Israeli military casualties reached 115.
< p>Israel has announced its worst combat losses in six weeks since the ambush in the ruins of Gaza, writes The Guardian.
Israel said on Wednesday that 10 of its soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours, including a colonel, commander forward base, and the lieutenant colonel in command of the regiment, Reuters reported.
The death toll increased by one from the military's previous tally and is the biggest single-day loss since 15 soldiers were killed on Oct. 31.
The military said most of the deaths occurred in the Shejaiya district of northern Gaza City, where Israeli troops were ambushed while trying to rescue another group of soldiers who had attacked Hamas militants in a building.
The total number of Israeli military deaths has reached 115 — almost twice as many as during clashes in the territory nine years ago.
Hamas said the episode showed that Israeli forces would never be able to bring Gaza under control. In a televised address, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said that any future agreement on Gaza without Hamas is a “delusion.”
Meanwhile, Israeli citizens said the army must not stop its relentless offensive to crush Hamas, despite a UN General Assembly call for a ceasefire, mounting troop casualties and a rising Palestinian death toll, Reuters reported.
Opinion polls in recent weeks show an overwhelming majority of people in the Jewish state support the war, despite the mounting loss of life. Six Israelis who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday said now was not the time to retreat, despite the waning sympathy around the world reflected in Tuesday's UN resolution.
The Hamas killing of about 1,200 people on October 7 has revived that What Israel previously experienced when the Arabs staged a surprise attack in 1973 was the fear that its neighbors and enemies could end the Jewish nation all together, says political scientist Tamar Hermann. People feel this is a threat to Israel's very existence.
Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute, which regularly polls public opinion on the war, stresses that people in Israel were prepared for more soldiers to die.
Speaking in Jerusalem, retired IT specialist Ben Zion Levinger said Israel's enemies would view any slowdown in the fight against Hamas as a sign of weakness: «If we don't see this fight through to the end, we'll have battles tomorrow morning in the north, east and south and possibly in Iran. Therefore, we have no choice.”