TEHRAN – The Israeli regime’s rising war crimes in Gaza have seen its soldiers suffer a rising number of casualties.

The spokesperson for the Israel occupation forces (IOF) has admitted the deaths of another four soldiers and the injury of others during battles in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun.

Israeli media revealed later on Sunday that the death toll had risen to seven with around 30 injured in a 24-hour period, which reportedly involved “severe security incidents”. 

The reports indicated that dozens of injured IOF soldiers were evacuated on Saturday from northern Gaza, including at least eleven described in either critical or severe condition.

The IOF has besieged northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip, preventing little to no humanitarian supplies from entering in a bid to starve the population into submission. 

According to UN agencies and rights groups, the most heinous war crimes have been committed in the north, which has seen daily massacres against the malnourished civilian population. 

Despite this, according to details in Israeli media, an Israeli force was hit by an explosive device, followed by a shooting attack in the north, resulting in many casualties. 

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the operation targeted a leadership convoy headed by the commander of the Nahal Brigade, as the convoy was traveling along a route presumed to be safe for the IOF. 

The newspaper added that the IOF is investigating how the armed fighters reached this area, west of Sderot, and is examining the possibility that they exited through an undiscovered tunnel.

Other Hebrew reports also spoke of a powerful explosive device detonating inside a tunnel in Gaza early in the day, resulting in the initial fatalities.

Channel 12 in Israel described the “Beit Hanoun attack” as a “double ambush” that involved the detonation of a landmine followed by gunfire targeting the Israeli force. 

It noted that "the evacuation of the dead and wounded soldiers was complicated and carried out under fire from the fighters.”

Hallel Bitton, the military and security correspondent for Israeli Channel 14, pointed out that “ten officers and soldiers were killed during battles in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza over the past week.”

A few days ago, the IOF admitted that the officially announced number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza had risen to at least 828 since October 7, 2023.

Israeli media has offered a significantly higher number of fatalities and injuries among the IOF in Gaza. 

This comes as the Palestinian fighters in Gaza continue to confront the invading Israeli forces with precision military operations, inflicting casualties among its soldiers and damaging its vehicles.

The initial ground battles in Beit Hanoun between invading Israeli infantry and the Palestinian resistance began on 27 October 2023. 

Israeli media criticized the Israeli army’s strategy of repeated entry and withdrawal from Gaza rather than seizing and controlling territory. They noted that Hamas exploits this tactic to set deadly traps.

In sharp criticism following the latest deadly incident in Gaza, Bitton said, “The Chief of Staff’s infiltration method has failed,” adding, “As long as the Chief of Staff does not understand that the only way to fight in Gaza is to seize and control territory, not repeatedly enter and exit it, nothing will change.”

Similarly, the military correspondent for Israel Hayom pointed out that the rising death toll of soldiers in Gaza has become difficult to manage.

The correspondent added that the incident in Beit Hanoun was particularly severe, noting that “soldiers from the Nahal Brigade were killed,” and than “10 soldiers have fallen in the past week alone, 50 in the last three months, and 400 since the start of the ground maneuver in Gaza – numbers that are becoming hard to contain.”