Israel says 4 more soldiers killed and 7 wounded in Rafah

The Israeli occupation army announced on Wednesday that four more soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded during ground battles in Rafah, thus raising the number of soldiers killed since last October to 714. The four soldiers were said by an officer to have been killed when an explosive device was detonated in a building in Tel Al-Sultan in Rafah.

According to Israeli media, a female soldier was among those killed. She was a medic in the 52nd Battalion and the first female soldier to be announced as being killed since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Three of the wounded, said Israel’s Channel 12, are in a serious condition. One of them is an officer.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that an officer was seriously injured in another incident when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an armoured personnel carrier in the Shaboura camp in Rafah. The radio report also pointed out that the soldiers killed and wounded in Rafah were engaged in operations to sweep suspected booby-trapped buildings. Despite procedures being activated to locate explosive devices, the explosives were not detected.

The military wing of resistance movement Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the explosive device.

Israeli army figures put the death toll at 714 officers and soldiers since 7 October last year, with 343 being killed since the start of the ground invasion on 27 October. The occupation forces have said that 4,448 soldiers have been injured since the beginning of war against the Palestinians in Gaza: 2,655 have minor injuries, 1,124 have moderate injuries, and 669 have serious injuries.

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