TEHRAN – The Israeli occupation regime has experienced one of the deadliest days in Gaza amid intensified operations by the Palestinian resistance fighters.

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) confirmed that seven soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. IOF said several other soldiers were injured.

Israeli media outlets reported that the death toll had risen to at least eight, with 17 others injured, some in critical condition.

Additional reports said that another soldier was confirmed dead in what was described as a “serious incident” in Gaza. This soldier had reportedly been listed as “missing” for some time.

According to the IOF’s preliminary investigation, the first incident occurred when Palestinian resistance fighters detonated an explosive device planted on a Puma-type armored personnel carrier.

The vehicle was carrying a combat unit from the Engineering Corps.

The explosion set the vehicle on fire while the soldiers were still inside, resulting in their deaths. It took several hours to identify the victims.

Following confirmation of the deaths, the army released the names of six of the dead soldiers.

In a separate incident, also in Khan Younis, two Israeli soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, according to an official IOF statement.

Israeli media described the events in Khan Younis as difficult to analyze, particularly because the casualties came from two different military units.

Earlier Hebrew media outlets reported that the incidents involved units from different brigades and divisions.

Israeli media, citing military sources, also reported that some soldiers remained missing in the field, raising serious concerns about their fate.

Military helicopters evacuated the wounded to Tel HaShomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.

Reports said Palestinian fighters had set up a complex ambush targeting an IOF unit. They ignited the Puma armored personnel carrier, trapping and burning the soldiers inside.

Audio of the wounded was captured by cameras belonging to Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. When a rescue team arrived, it was targeted in a second ambush.

The al-Qassam Brigades announced they had conducted a complex ambush against an IOF unit that had taken shelter in a house in southern Khan Younis.

The force was hit with a Yassin 105 rocket and an RPG round, resulting in deaths and injuries among the occupation soldiers.

Al-Qassam also reported targeting an IOF Merkava tank in the same area by using an explosive device and a Yassin 105 rocket.

Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigades, announced they had launched a mortar shelling attack on concentrations of IOF soldiers positioned around armored vehicles northwest of Khan Younis.

The al-Quds Brigades stated that their fighters observed mortar shells landing directly among the soldiers, prompting the IOF to deploy vehicles and call in aerial support to evacuate the casualties.

Earlier, the al-Quds Brigades reported destroying an Israeli military vehicle, using a pre-planted barrel explosive near al-Katiba Mosque in central Khan Younis.

Despite nearly two years of genocidal war on Gaza, the Israeli regime’s main objective of eliminating the Palestinian resistance remains a distant goal.