9 Israeli soldiers killed in Hamas ambush in Gaza City

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas terrorists carried out one of the deadliest single attacks on Israeli soldiers since the retaliatory Gaza invasion began, killing at least nine in an urban ambush, the military said Wednesday.

Israeli troops are locked in heavy combat with Hamas fighters in and around Gaza City more than six weeks after the beginning of a reliatory ground invasion of Gaza’s north following the terrorists’ Oct. 7 attack.

Clashes raged overnight and into Wednesday in multiple areas, with especially heavy fighting in Shijaiyah, a dense neighborhood that was the scene of a major battle during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

The ambush took place Tuesday in Shijaiyah, where troops searching a cluster of buildings lost communication with four soldiers who had come under fire, the military said. When the other soldiers launched a rescue operation, they were ambushed with heavy gunfire and explosives.

Among the nine dead were Col. Itzhak Ben Basat, 44, the most senior officer to have been killed in the ground operation, and Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, a battalion commander.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “very difficult day,” but he rejected international calls for a cease-fire.

“We are continuing until the end, there is no question. I say this even given the great pain and the international pressure. Nothing will stop us, we will continue until the end, until victory, nothing less,” he said in a talk with military commanders.

Israel invaded southern Gaza nearly two weeks ago, and heavy fighting has continued in its first target — the city of Khan Younis. Israeli strikes overnight hit two residential buildings in and around the city.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high toll on Hamas because it conceals fighters, tunnels and weapons in residential areas.

Anger over the war’s toll appears to have brought a surge in support among Palestinians for Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

A poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found 44 percent of respondents in the occupied West Bank said they supported Hamas, up from just 12 percent in September. In Gaza, the terrorists enjoyed 42 percent support, up from 38 percent three months ago.

Though Hamas’ backing remains a minority, the poll showed overwhelming rejection of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90 percent saying he must resign. Many Palestinians view the octogenarian leader’s administration as corrupt, autocratic and ineffective.

The findings signal more difficulties ahead for the American administration’s postwar vision for Gaza.

The U.S. wants Abbas’ internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to also govern Gaza, which Hamas seized from it in 2007. It also wants to revive the long-defunct peace process to negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he told Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing.”

“Israel doesn’t seem to be anywhere near achieving its military objective,” Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel analyst with the International Crisis Group, wrote on X, pointing to Tuesday’s deadly ambush.

Biden urged Netanyahu to change his government, which is dominated by hard-right parties. But the offensive is being conducted by a war Cabinet that includes two politically centrist retired generals, and it has overwhelming support among Israelis from across the political spectrum.

In Israel, attention is still focused on the atrocities carried out on Oct. 7, when some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and some 240 people were taken hostage, around half of whom remain in captivity. The military says 115 soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive.

With the war in its third month, the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has surpassed 18,600, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

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Jeffery reported from Cairo and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Najib Jobain in Rafah, Gaza Strip, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.