Eight Israeli soldiers killed in southern Gaza, military says
Deaths will likely fuel calls for ceasefire and heighten Israeli public anger over military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
Sat 15 Jun 2024 17.02 BST

Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in a blast that engulfed their armoured vehicle in southern Gaza, in the biggest loss of life for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a single incident since January.

The deaths came amid continuing fighting around Rafah in which at least 19 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes.

According to the IDF, the squad of combat engineers were in a convoy of half a dozen armoured vehicles returning from a mission at about 5am on Saturday morning in the Tal al-Sultan area of the southern Gaza city when their vehicle was destroyed.

Earlier, the armed wing of Hamas said fighters had ambushed an armoured personnel carrier, killing and wounding a number of Israeli soldiers, in the area in the west of Rafah, where Israeli forces have been advancing for weeks. ...