2 more Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza conflict, military says

Another two Israeli soldiers died from fighting in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday.

A military statement said Staff Sergeant Betzalel Zvi Kovach, 20, a soldier in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, succumbed to his critical injuries from clashes in the northern city of Beit Hanoun last Wednesday.

In another statement, the army identified the second slain soldier as Staff Sergeant Sahar Sudaei, 20, from the Givati Brigade's Rotem Battalion, who was killed in clashes in the northern Gaza Strip.

The new deaths brought to 636 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, according to official military figures.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 80,600 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.

Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of "genocide" at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million displaced Palestinians had sought refuge.