Israel loses 8 more servicemen in battles with Hamas Starts flooding the tunnels in Gaza

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) lost eight more people during the fighting with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Three more soldiers were seriously wounded, Caliber.Az reports, citing The Times of Israel.

According to the IDF, among the killed servicemen, there are high-ranking officers.

Since the start of the IDF ground operation in late October, the number of Israeli military deaths has reached 113, with over 550 more injured.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Israel’s military was pumping seawater into Hamas’s vast complex of tunnels in Gaza.

The move to flood the tunnels with water from the Mediterranean, which is in an early stage, is one of several techniques Israel is using to try to clear and destroy the tunnels.

Israeli officials say that Hamas’s underground system has been key to its operations on the battlefield. The tunnel system, they say, is used by Hamas to manoeuvre fighters across the battlefield and store the group’s rockets and munitions, and enables the group’s leaders to command and control their forces. Israel also believes some hostages are being held inside tunnels.

The utility of using seawater in a vast underground labyrinth that extends for roughly 300 miles and includes thick blast doors is still being evaluated by the Israelis, according to US officials.

Flooding the tunnels, which would likely be a weekslong process, began around the time Israel added two more pumps to the five pumps installed last month and conducted some initial tests, the officials added.

In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised not to allow Hamas or Fatah to rule the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said he would not let Israel repeat the Oslo mistake.

"I will not allow that after the enormous sacrifices of our citizens and soldiers, we will not allow that in the Gaza Strip there are those who nurture terrorism, support terrorism, finance terrorism. Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fathastan," the prime minister said.

In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) indicated that the armed wing of the Shiite party Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel from positions just 130 metres from the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

“A short while ago, in response to the launches toward Israel earlier today, IDF aircraft and tanks struck several military posts and military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian Army in Syrian territory,” the army noted.

“Additionally, an IAF fighter jet struck military infrastructure and IDF forces struck a launch post belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanese territory,” the IDF writes.

In a rush to help conflict-hit Gaza civilians, Algeria will host 400 Palestinian children who have been injured as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, an official source told the Algeria Press Service.

The country will receive Palestinian children in civil and military hospitals in Algiers, Oran, and Constantine.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has revealed that the number of wounded individuals has reached 49,500 since October 7 after "Israel" launched an indiscriminate aggression that consisted of ruthless airstrikes, drone strikes, and artillery strikes, aiming for mass displacement and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

The Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza stated earlier that only 1% of the casualties of the aggression have been able to seek treatment through the Rafah crossing, the only path out of the Gaza Strip.

Gazans also lack clean water, food, and medical supplies, as they live in overcrowded shelters, and during the cold weather of December. This means that illnesses and diseases are tearing through the survivors of the Israeli aggression.