Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, January 23, that the army had launched an investigation into the "disaster" that led to the deaths of 21 soldiers in Gaza a day before. "The IDF has launched an investigation of the disaster. We must learn the necessary lessons and do everything to preserve the lives of our warriors," Netanyahu said in a statement.
The 21 reservists were among a total of 24 soldiers killed in Gaza on Monday, the army's biggest single-day losses since the start of its ground operation on October 27, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. "We worked to find the victims until the last hours," Hagari said in a televised statement, pointing to the difficulty of extracting bodies buried under the rubble. "Our reservists sacrificed what was dearest to them, so that we could all live here in complete safety."
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said "ground operations, fighting and attacks intensified" around Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis. The Israeli army said its forces had conducted multiple raids and taken control of Hamas command centers in the city. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had hit its headquarters in Khan Yunis "with artillery shelling on the fourth floor, coinciding with intense gunfire from Israeli drones, resulting in injuries among internally displaced individuals who sought safety on our premises".
The heavy clashes came as a White House official was due in the region for talks aimed at securing more hostage releases, and as US media reported a new Israeli proposal for a deal that would involve a two-month pause in fighting.