Eight Israeli soldiers killed as fighting rages in Gaza
Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast in southern Gaza Saturday, the military said, in one of its heaviest losses of the war, as witnesses reported street battles between troops and Palestinian militants.
The military said the soldiers were killed when the Namer armoured vehicle they were travelling in exploded near Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah, where troops are engaged in fierce street battles.
"There was a very serious damage to the vehicle and those in it, and a large explosion making it difficult to identify and locate the bodies," it said.
![Muslims perform the Friday noon prayer in front of a destroyed mosque in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, ahead of Eid al-Adha](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/b9378c418e5b85155e2c2a6927ecaf095e4894c7.jpg?h=69f2b9d0&itok=H7cIyYmO)