As fighting rages in Gaza, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that while Israeli forces are achieving significant gains, the costs are steep. A reservist was killed Thursday and another seriously wounded by RPG fire on Friday, Katz confirmed.
“Thousands of soldiers are heroically fighting in Gaza for the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” Katz said, urging citizens to support the troops.
Following his remarks, the IDF ordered Palestinians to evacuate Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood ahead of intensified strikes, citing ongoing attacks from terror groups.
Heavy Israeli airstrikes on Friday reportedly killed at least 40 Palestinians across Gaza, including civilians in Zeitoun, Shejaiya, Jabalia, and Khan Younis, according to Hamas’s civil defense agency and the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news outlet. Among the dead were a pregnant woman and her family.
The IDF, which says it takes measures to avoid civilian casualties, reported hitting a Hamas command center in Jabalia and targeting gunmen responsible for an RPG attack in Rafah that seriously injured an Israeli soldier.
Since March 18, over 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in renewed hostilities, per Hamas health authorities, although casualty figures cannot be independently verified. Israel claims roughly 20,000 Hamas fighters have been killed since the war began after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which left 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped.
Israel’s military death toll in Gaza now stands at 412, including soldiers, a police officer, and two civilian contractors.
