Five Israeli soldiers were killed and two others wounded in northern Gaza, the army announced Tuesday, in one of the deadliest attacks on its forces in the enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting Washington, described it as a "difficult morning," as US President Donald Trump continues to push for an end to the more than 21-month-old war.
"All of Israel bows in sorrow and mourns our heroic soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the battle to defeat Hamas and free all our hostages," Netanyahu added on his Twitter account.
The army said the five soldiers, aged between 20 and 28, "fell during fighting in northern Gaza" on Monday. Two other soldiers were seriously wounded and taken to the hospital.
Israeli military correspondents said the soldiers were killed when improvised explosive devices exploded in Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, and while evacuating the wounded, they came under fire.
For its part, the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, confirmed Tuesday morning via its spokesman Abu Obeida's Telegram channel that "the battle of attrition that our fighters are waging with the enemy from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip will inflict additional losses on it every day. Even if it miraculously succeeded recently in freeing its soldiers from hell, it may fail later, leaving us with additional prisoners."
The Brigades concluded by saying that Netanyahu's decision to keep his forces inside the Gaza Strip would be "the most foolish decision."
At least 445 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, according to a tally compiled by Agence France-Presse.
For his part, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said via Twitter, "The painful news of the fall of five of our heroic sons in Gaza, most of them fighters from the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Brigade, breaks my heart."
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid stressed that "for the sake of the fighters, for the sake of their families, for the sake of the hostages, for the sake of the State of Israel, this war must end."
A new round of indirect negotiations between the two sides began in Qatar on Sunday evening, aiming to reach a ceasefire agreement, after mediators submitted a new proposal to both sides based on the proposal of US envoy Steve Witkoff.
The talks are being held in separate rooms within the same building in the Qatari capital, Doha, with representatives from Israel and Hamas present.
Monday's session ended without "any breakthrough," according to a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations.
With the resumption of indirect talks on Tuesday, a source familiar with the negotiations told AFP that "there has been no breakthrough so far."
Witkoff is expected to join the talks this week to push for a ceasefire.
The US proposals include a two-month truce during which Hamas would release ten living hostages it took to the Gaza Strip during the October 7, 2023, attack.
In return, Israel would release Palestinian prisoners, according to two Palestinian sources familiar with the talks.
Hamas is demanding guarantees that Israel will withdraw and that fighting will not resume during the negotiation period, and that the United Nations will distribute aid according to the old system, the sources confirmed.
The war erupted following an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a massive, violent campaign in Gaza that left tens of thousands dead and caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Hamas attack killed 1,219 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
At least 57,523 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza in devastating Israeli shelling and operations, according to a tally by the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
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