Israeli army loses 842 servicemen in battles with Hamas since October 2023 — press service

TEL AVIV, January 31. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has lost 842 servicemen in battles with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas since tensions escalated on October 7, 2023, the army press service said.

According to the latest figures released by the IDF, another Israeli soldier was killed the day before in fighting in the West Bank, where the country’s troops have been conducting an anti-terrorist operation since last week. The 20-year-old staff sergeant was killed in a firefight with Palestinian resistance fighters in Jenin, while five other soldiers were injured.

On January 21, the IDF press service reported that Israeli security forces launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. On January 27, the IDF informed that it had launched a counter-terrorism operation in the town of Tulkarm, also located in the northern West Bank. As a result of these actions, several dozen Palestinians were killed.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave. Clashes also took place in the West Bank. On January 15, 2025, a ceasefire went into effect in the Gaza Strip and the process of releasing hostages began.