Seven Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, pressure on Netanyahu for ceasefire

By Alexander Cornwell

TEL AVIV (Reuters) -The Israeli military said seven soldiers were killed in a single attack in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the military's deadliest day in the territory since it broke a ceasefire with Hamas in March.

A lieutenant, three staff sergeants and three sergeants, members of a combat engineering battalion, were killed when a explosive device planted on the armoured vehicle they were travelling in ignited a fire, the military said on Wednesday.

The latest deaths are likely to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-long war, a move strongly opposed by hardline members of his right-wing ruling coalition.

Public support for Netanyahu collapsed after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza, which exposed Israel to its deadliest security failure.

But his standing has been boosted by his surprise decision to strike Iran — a campaign widely viewed as dealing a significant blow to Israel's longtime adversary.

Attention has shifted back to Gaza following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a truce between Israel and Iran that came into effect on Tuesday and continues to hold.

Moshe Gafne, a lawmaker from an ultra-Orthodox party within Netanyahu’s coalition government, on Wednesday publicly questioned why Israel was still locked in the war in Gaza.

"This is a very sad day, with seven soldiers killed in Gaza ... I still don’t understand why we are fighting there. To what end?" he told a parliamentary committee.

Hamas' military wing confirmed that it had carried out the deadly attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Tuesday. It said its fighters had also fired an anti-tank missile at another vehicle that came to help.

The war in Gaza has isolated Israel from many of its international partners critical of the military campaign. During the 12 days Israel was fighting Iran, more than 800 Palestinians were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military, including at least 30, among them a journalist, on Wednesday, according to local health officials.

The deadliest day for the Israeli military since the war started was in January 2024, when 24 soldiers were killed, 20 of them in a single explosion.

HOSTAGES

The Gaza war has persisted despite mounting domestic and international calls for a permanent ceasefire and to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as coalition members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have pressed to keep fighting.

Netanyahu's right-wing coalition of secular and religious parties holds a narrow parliamentary majority, meaning the prime minister can ill afford dissent.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the relatives of some captives, this week called on the United States to push for a comprehensive deal that would secure the release of the hostages.

Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died.

Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release the hostages, relinquish any future role in Gaza and lay down its weapons in order to end the war.

Hamas has said it would release the hostages if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza. It has refused to discuss disarmament.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing close to 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Most of the hostages released so far have been freed through indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has so far killed 56,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, most of them civilians, and destroyed much of the coastal strip.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Enas Alashray, additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Nidal Al Mughrabi; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Alex Richardson)