3 more Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza fighting, army says

The Israeli army said Tuesday that three more soldiers had been killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip.

A military statement said two soldiers were killed in battles north of the Palestinian enclave, while a third lost his life in the central Gaza Strip.

Five more soldiers were seriously injured, the statement added.

According to military figures, at least 495 soldiers have been killed since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

In response to a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israel launched air and ground attacks on the coastal territory and has since killed at least 20,915 people, most of them women and children.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Tel Aviv has vowed to destroy Hamas and ensure the release of all hostages taken during the October attack. Some of them were returned after a temporary truce in November in exchange for some Palestinian prisoners.