Israel’s army suffered its worst single-day losses in more than a month during a bloody Hamas ambush – which also claimed the lives of its top officers killed since the fighting broke out, officials announced Wednesday.
A total of 10 Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including 44-year-old Colonel Itzhak Ben Basat, according to the Times of Israel.
Many of the soldiers were killed in the Shejaia district of Gaza, when they were ambushed by Hamas terrorists while trying to rescue another group of soldiers, according to Reuters.
It was the worst one-day loss the IDF has suffered since October 31, when 15 soldiers were killed.
Hamas proudly displays news of the casualties, claiming they demonstrate Israel’s inability to bring down Gaza.
“The longer you are there, the greater your number of deaths and losses, and you will emerge from it with a tail of disappointment and loss, God willing,” the terrorist organization said.
Heavy fighting continued throughout the day in northern and southern Gaza.
Bombing runs were flown by Israeli warplanes across the area, while winter rains created wet fighting conditions for troops on the ground.
10 IDF casualties, from top left: Lt. Col. Tomer Greenberg, 35, Col. Yitzhak Ben Bashet, 44, Sergeant Eran Aloni, 19, Sergeant Ahya Daskal, 19, Major Moshe Avraham Bar-On, 23, Major General Rom Hecht, 20, Major Ben Sheli, 26, Roy Meldasi, 23, Sergeant Uriah Yaakov, Captain Liel Haiu, 22.
The rain also raised a humanitarian alarm for the 2.3 million Gazans displaced by the fighting, hundreds of thousands of whom were forced to live in makeshift tents.
“Our house was destroyed, our son was martyred and I’m still dealing with it all,” said Yasmin Mhani, who was hanging wet clothes outside the tent where she and her family live.
Mhani, who shares a single blanket with a family of five, said she woke up in the night to find her seven-month-old son soaking wet.
“This is the fifth place we have had to move, fleeing from one place to another, wearing only a t-shirt,” he said.
Fighting in Gaza has intensified since the end of the November ceasefire. Heavy rain has complicated the IDF’s fight
President Biden said Israel’s campaign to eliminate Hamas from Gaza began eroding the tide of global sympathy it held after the terrorist group attacked the Jewish homeland on October 7.
“They’re starting to lose that support with the indiscriminate bombing that’s going on,” Biden said at a donor event on Tuesday.
While he insisted “most of the world” still supports Israel, he said he had advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “not to make the same mistake we made on 9/11” and get involved in the kind of conflict the US found itself in. in Afghanistan.
Shortly after, the United Nations General Assembly passed a vote demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Only eight countries voted with the US and Israel against the resolution, which has no legal force.
Gaza’s Hamas health ministry said 18,608 people had been killed since Israel began retaliating against the city. Another 50,594 have been injured, the ministry said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
