Israeli army announces 3 soldier deaths in combat in Gaza

JERUSALEM, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — Israel announced on Saturday that three soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip amid its ongoing military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that two of them were killed on Friday in a blast in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City and the third during a gunfight with Palestinian fighters.
Since the beginning of the Gaza conflict, which was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel last October, a total of 699 Israeli soldiers have been killed, according to Israeli military figures.
Also on Saturday, Palestinian security sources reported that the Israeli army has withdrawn from northern Khan Younis in southern Gaza but continues combat in other parts of the enclave.
The army said in a statement that it destroyed a 500-meter-long tunnel belonging to the Islamic Jihad movement and other militant infrastructures in Khan Younis, adding its ground forces were carrying out attacks in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where they killed “dozens of militants.”
The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks has exceeded 40,000, according to Gaza health authorities. On Saturday alone, at least 50 people were killed. ■