Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the armed forces said on Saturday.
An explosion killed them in their armoured personnel carrier, the Israeli army said further. According to the information provided, it was initially unclear whether the vehicle had hit a mine or was under direct attack from Palestinian Islamist Hamas fighters.
The armoured van was part of a convoy that drove to a building in the Tel Sultan neighbourhood, which the military had previously taken under its control early on Saturday morning.
The Israeli units had killed 50 Hamas militiamen in the previous night's fighting, the statement added. The information could not initially be independently verified.
The Israeli military has been conducting an offensive in Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt, since the beginning of May. The IDF says it wants to smash one of the last strongholds of Hamas and its allies there.
A week ago, forces in Rafah freed four Israeli hostages from the Islamists. Hamas is still holding a total of 120 hostages kidnapped from Israel in the Gaza Strip. However, many of them are probably already dead.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7. More than 1,200 people were killed on the Israeli side and a further 250 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.