TEL AVIV: At least nine Israeli soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday.
The Israeli army said the incidents occurred on Monday. Six of the soldiers died in an explosion intended to destroy a workshop used by Palestinian groups to manufacture rockets.
The explosives had been transported by lorry to the area of the Bureij refugee district, located in the central part of the coastal strip, it said.
The Jerusalem Post wrote that it is still unclear whether the explosion was caused by a technical error or an explosive device.
Since the start of the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza at the end of October, 185 servicemen and women have been killed and more than1,000 others have been injured, according to military figures.
A total of 519 servicemen and women have been killed since the October 7 attacks when Palestinian groups launched a bloody raid on Israel.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive, which have killed more than 23,000 people and injured tens of thousands more, according to the health authority in Gaza.
In Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began talks on Tuesday about the Gaza war and the explosive situation in the Middle East with Israeli leaders.
He was greeted by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as his counterpart Israel Katz in Tel Aviv.
Blinken had said that he planned to share what he had heard during his previous diplomatic visits to other neighbouring countries.
"I've just come from a number of countries in the region, Turkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and I want to be able to share some of what I heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister and the Cabinet," Blinken said. — dpa
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