WATCH | 24 SOLDIERS KILLED ON DEADLIEST DAY FOR ISRAELI FORCES IN GAZA COMBAT

Tue 23 January 2024:

They are in a state of grief, as the number of soldiers killed has been increasing steadily. Maybe there is a realisation, that all the military power, is not actually achieving much, at the moment.

The captives are still held by Hamas in Gaza, and the number of soldiers who are losing their lives, is increasing.

Many Israelis are asking, where this war is going, what the ultimate goal is, and when the captives held in Gaza be able to return home.

Twenty-one Israeli soldiers were killed Monday, when they came under attack in the southern Gaza Strip, triggering a blast that collapsed two buildings, with soldiers inside them, the military said Tuesday morning.

It was the single deadliest incident since the start of Israel’s ground offensive in the enclave, and raised the military death toll in the operation to 219.

At a press conference Tuesday morning, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Admiral, Daniel Hagari said, that troops were operating in an area around 600 meters from the border, across from the southern Israeli community of Kissufim. They were destroying structures and Hamas sites.

“At around 4 p.m., an RPG was fired by gunmen at a tank securing the forces, and simultaneously, an explosion occurred in two two-story buildings. The buildings collapsed due to this explosion, while most of the forces were inside and near them,” he said.

According to military sources, two of the soldiers were killed by the RPG fire on the tank. Several other soldiers were wounded in the blast, including one in serious condition.

Hagari said the explosion in the buildings, was likely a result of mines planted by troops, for the purpose of later demolishing the structures, but the cause of the detonation was still under investigation. The buildings may have been hit by a second RPG.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said it had been an “unbearably difficult morning”, after hearing news of the deaths of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Israel would push on with fighting in Gaza, until “absolute victory”.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and free the hostages. However, three months in, the offensive has not yet achieved those goals, and pressure has mounted within Israel, to reach a deal with the group, for the return of 136 people still held in Gaza — not all of them alive. International pressure has also intensified, to bring the war to an end, amid the mounting Palestinian toll, and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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