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Israel’s military on Saturday said that eight soldiers were killed in southern Gaza, close to the Rafah border, in the deadliest attack on Israeli forces in months. With this attack, the total number of Israeli soldiers killed fighting Hamas has reached 307.

The army has identified one of its troop members as 23-year-old Captain Wassem Mahmoud, a deputy company commander in the Combat Engineering Corps. Details of others are yet to be confirmed.

According to the Israeli military, the troops were all killed inside an armoured combat engineering vehicle (CEV) when they were heading to buildings captured for the troops to rest following the overnight operation. As the convoy was progressing, it was hit by a major explosion, the Times of Israel reported.

Hamas announced earlier that its fighters had ambushed an armoured personnel carrier, killing and wounding a number of Israeli soldiers, in the Tel Al-Sultan area in the west of Rafah.

The Israeli forces have been advancing in Rafah region for weeks and their strikes today killed at least 19 Palestinians.

The Israeli military also stated that its forces in Rafah had captured large quantities of weapons, both above ground and concealed in the extensive tunnel network built by Hamas.

The soldier’s death comes as the talks for a ceasefire progress. The attack is likely to fuel calls for the ceasefire and heighten Israeli public anger over ultra-Orthodox exemptions from the military.

Israel has launched a military offensive after Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking approximately 250 hostages. The Palestinian group released 100 hostages during brief ceasefires last year in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Air strikes and ground offensives by Israel in Gaza have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. Around 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced from their homes.

World leaders have been pressing for a ceasefire in Gaza. While Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refuses to end the war before Hamas is eradicated. In a latest development, a US-mediated ceasefire agreement is in discussion between the two parties.

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