7 Israeli troops killed in a Gaza bombing as Palestinian officials say Israeli attacks kill 79

JERUSALEM — Israel on Wednesday reported one of its deadliest days in Gaza in months as its military said seven soldiers were killed when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle, while health officials in the battered enclave said Israeli attacks killed 79 people over the past day.

The attack on the Israeli troops, which occurred on Tuesday, quickly drew the nation’s attention back to the grinding conflict with the Hamas militant group after nearly two weeks of war between Israel and Iran.

Among the 79 reported killed in Gaza were 33 people who died while trying to access aid. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

Israel returns its attention to Gaza

Israel has been fighting in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. U.S.-led ceasefire efforts have repeatedly stalled.

Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the army’s chief spokesman, said the soldiers were attacked in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, where the army has operated on and off throughout much of the war.

“Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,” he said.

The army said another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Yunis. It gave no further details, but Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building.

Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza.

The initial Hamas attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Some 50 hostages remain in captivity, at least 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

Palestinians eager for a ceasefire

With a fragile ceasefire holding between Israel and Iran, President Trump said there has been “great progress” in Gaza ceasefire talks, without elaborating.

“I think we’re going to have some very good news,” Trump told reporters at the NATO summit. He credited the U.S. interference in the Israel-Iran war for progress on Gaza, saying that “I think that it helped a little bit, it showed a lot of power.”

Some Palestinians in Gaza City expressed frustration that the war has dragged on for nearly two years, while the conflict between Israel and Iran lasted 12 days before a fragile ceasefire.

“I live in a tent and now my tent is gone too and we’re living in suffering here. The war between Israel and Iran ended in less than two weeks and we’ve been dying for two years,” said Um Zidan, a woman displaced from northern Gaza.

Gaza health authorities had announced on Tuesday that the number of Palestinians killed in the war has risen above 56,000. Experts say Israel’s blockade and military campaign have driven the population to the brink of famine.

Mazen al-Jomla, a displaced resident of Shati camp, questioned why war in the coastal enclave has stretched on, noting that Israel’s assault on Iran was based on accusations of possessing nuclear weapons.

“We have been suffering for two years; from horrors, destruction, martyrs and injured people,” he said. “What do they [Israel] have left here? There are no houses, trees, or rocks, or humans left. Everything was destroyed.”

Deadliest round of fighting

The latest reported death toll of 56,156 is higher than in any previous Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The health ministry in Gaza doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.

The ministry said the dead include 5,759 who have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, which operates in heavily populated areas. Israel says over 20,000 Hamas militants have been killed, though it has provided no evidence to support that claim. Hamas has not commented on its casualties.

Woman killed in East Jerusalem

Israeli forces shot and killed a 66-year-old Palestinian woman during a raid on Wednesday in East Jerusalem, her husband and a local Palestinian official said.

Joudah Al-Obeidi, a 67-year-old resident of the neighborhood’s Shuafat refugee camp, said his wife, Zahia Al-Obeidi, was standing on the roof of their home when Israeli forces stormed the camp and shot her in the head. He said she had posed no threat.

“It is a crime,” he told the Associated Press. “What danger did a sick 66-year-old woman pose to them?”

Israeli police said they were investigating the incident, saying a woman had arrived at a military checkpoint with “serious penetrating injuries” and was pronounced dead. They said Israeli forces fired at “rioters” who threw rocks and heavy objects at them during the operation, hospitalizing one officer with a head injury from a large rock.

Marouf Al-Refai, the Palestinian official, said Israeli forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Al-Obeidi with a shot to the head around 10 p.m., and took her body away.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.

It considers the area to be part of its capital — a move that is not internationally recognized. Palestinians want an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Frankel writes for the Associated Press.