5 Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza, Military Says

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and two others seriously wounded during combat in northern Gaza on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, without offering many details about the incident.

The military identified the five soldiers who were killed, but offered no information about their mission. The deaths follow another incident last month in the Palestinian enclave in which the Israeli military said seven of its soldiers were killed in the city of Khan Younis.

Talks are underway in Qatar to try and seal a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas and end the longest war between Israelis and Arabs since 1949. “I think we’re close to a deal on Gaza. Could have it this week,” President Trump said on Sunday.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, said on social media that militants had delivered a “blow” to the “prestige” of the Israeli military in a “complex” operation in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.

Abu Obeida did not provide details of what happened.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas led an attack on Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 Israelis. Around 250 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza has devastated the enclave, and its forces have killed more than 57,000 people, according to the Palestinian health authorities.

Israel and Hamas have engaged in several rounds of indirect negotiations for a new cease-fire and the release of the hostages still in Hamas captivity, but they have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement.

Key issues under discussion in the current negotiations include the presence of Israeli forces in Gaza, assurances that any deal will lead to a permanent end of the war and how aid is distributed in the enclave.

Hamas has demanded that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the controversial, Israeli-backed aid group, stop operating in the enclave, according to a Hamas official, an Israeli official, and a person briefed on the negotiations, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. Israel has insisted that the group continue to hand out food, arguing it would prevent Hamas from deriving financial benefits from the aid supplies to Gaza.

Since the foundation began operations in May, hundreds of hungry and desperate Palestinians have been killed and many others wounded on their way to collect parcels of food from its distribution sites.

Witnesses on a number of occasions have said that Israeli troops opened fire on the approaches to the new aid hubs. The Israeli military has said repeatedly that its forces have fired “warning shots.”

Adam Rasgon contributed reporting to this article.