At least five Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, the military said Tuesday, as local health officials reported 18 more Palestinian deaths from Israeli airstrikes.
The bloodshed came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the White House for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump about a cease-fire plan to pause the Gaza fighting.
While there was no word of a breakthrough, the killings of the soldiers could add to the pressure on Netanyahu to strike a deal in Israel, where polls have shown widespread support for ending the genocidal war.
An Israeli security official said explosive devices were detonated against the soldiers during an operation in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza, which was an early target of the war and an area where Israel has repeatedly fought resistance groups.
Resistance members also opened fire on the forces who were evacuating the wounded soldiers, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the incident 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 Israel launched its war on Gaza in 2023.
The soldiers died roughly two weeks after Israel reported one of its deadliest days in months in Gaza, when seven soldiers were killed after a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle.
In a statement, Netanyahu sent his condolences for the deaths, saying the soldiers fell "in a campaign to defeat Hamas and to free all of our hostages."
Health officials at the Nasser Hospital, where victims of the Israeli strikes were taken, said one of the strikes 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.
In central Gaza, Israeli strikes hit a group of people, killing 10 people and injuring 72 others, according to a statement by Awda Hospital in Nuseirat.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes, but it blames Hamas for any harm to civilians, saying the resistance group operates out of 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.
Trump has made clear that, following last month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, he would like to see the 21-month Gaza conflict end soon. Netanyahu's visit to Washington may give new urgency to the cease-fire proposal.
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, 20 of whom are believed to be living.
A sticking point is whether the cease-fire will end the war altogether. Hamas has said it is 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.
Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, incursion triggered the war, causing 1,219 deaths and taking 251 hostages, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel's genocidal war, in comparison, has killed over 57,418 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
