



Two Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the military announced.
The slain troops were named as Staff Sgt. Itay Parizat, 20, from Petah Tikva, and Staff Sgt. Yair Hananya, 22, from Mitzpe Netofa.
Both served in the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion.
Another soldier was seriously wounded in the same incident, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The military said it was still probing the deadly incident.
Their deaths brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 370.
Also on Saturday, the IDF announced that, according to the latest assessments, Israeli troops have killed some 900 terror operatives during an ongoing operation in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, which began last month.
Another 700 Palestinians have been detained, among which at least 300 have so far been confirmed to be members of terror groups, according to the IDF.
In Gaza City, the IDF located and demolished a large underground weapons manufacturing plant operated by Hamas.
The army said that troops with the 252nd Division located the tunnel network, where Hamas had previously manufactured weapons.
The site was located “in the heart of a civilian population,” near Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, the IDF said.
In the tunnel, the IDF said troops found lathes and hundreds of components used to build rockets, mortars, grenades, and diving equipment, which would have been used by Hamas terrorists to infiltrate into Israel via the sea.
Also in the tunnel, the IDF said it found several rooms where Hamas operatives could reside for long periods. The rooms included kitchens, bedrooms and offices.
Combat engineers mapped out the tunnel system before demolishing it.
The IDF said that by demolishing the tunnel and seizing the equipment, it “foiled another attempt by the Hamas terror organization to rearm.”
Throughout the war, Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stressed that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
The war erupted when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry 43,314 Palestinians have been killed and 102,019 injured in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.