Israeli forces bombed and shelled Gaza on Saturday while they conceded fall of eight soldiers.
The Israeli military said eight soldiers were killed in southern Gaza Saturday 鈥榠n operational activity鈥� while they were in an armoured vehicle, in one of the deadliest incidents since the war broke out on October 7.
Israeli media reported the troops died in the city of Rafah when their armoured vehicle exploded.
The military said in a statement that Captain Wassem Mahmud, 23, and seven other soldiers 鈥榝ell during operational activity in southern Gaza鈥�.
The military confirmed to AFP that the incident occurred inside a Namer armoured vehicle.
The latest fatalities take the military鈥檚 toll to 306 in聽 the Gaza military campaign since Israel began its ground offensive in the Palestinian territory on October 27.
In the ninth month of war between Palestinian Hamas militants and Israeli forces, the Civil Defence agency in Gaza City, in the territory鈥檚 north, reported 10 bodies recovered from Israeli strikes on three separate homes.
In Rafah, in Gaza鈥檚 far south near Egypt, witnesses reported clashes between militants and Israeli troops in the city鈥檚 west, and artillery fire towards a refugee camp in the city centre. AFPTV images showed streets largely deserted.
The United Nations says about one million people have been displaced from Rafah since early May, when Israel began ground operations in pursuit of Hamas militants.
Israel鈥檚 offensive has killed at least 37,296 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Fears of a broader Middle East conflict have surged again, with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters launching waves of rockets and drones against Israeli military targets.
Israeli forces responded with shelling, the military said, also announcing air strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure across the border.
French President Emmanuel Macron said this week that his country and the United States would work separately with Israeli and Lebanese authorities to ease tensions.
At a summit of the G7 group of advanced economies in Italy, US President Joe Biden called Hamas 鈥榯he biggest hang-up so far鈥� to reaching a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.
Hamas has insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire鈥攄emands Israel has repeatedly rejected.
Blinken has said Israel backs the latest plan, but prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose far-right coalition partners are strongly opposed, has not publicly endorsed it.
The Gaza war鈥檚 only truce, one week in November, saw hostages freed and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel released.
World Food Programme deputy executive director Carl Skau said that 鈥榳ith lawlessness inside the Strip... and active conflict鈥�, it has become 鈥榗lose to impossible to deliver the level of aid that meets the growing demands on the ground鈥�.
鈥楳ore than anything, people want this war to end,鈥� he said after a two-day visit to Gaza.
The United States, Israel鈥檚 close ally, imposed sanctions Friday on an Israeli group whose activists have blocked aid convoys bound for Gaza, where the UN has warned of famine.
鈥業ndividuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blockading roads, sometimes violently,鈥� the US State Department said.
鈥楾hey also have damaged aid trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid onto the road.鈥�
The US military said a pier it built to help bring aid into Gaza would be temporarily moved to an Israeli port to protect it from expected high seas.
The platform had only been reattached to Gaza鈥檚 shore a week before, after storm damage.
G7 leaders called for the 鈥榬apid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need鈥�, and said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, must be allowed to work in Gaza unhindered.
Israel had accused 12 of the agency鈥檚 13,000 Gaza staff of involvement in the October 7 attack, prompting several donor governments to suspend their contributions.
An independent review said Israel had not yet provided evidence that UNRWA employed 鈥榯errorists鈥�.
As Muslims worldwide prepare to mark Eid al-Adha starting Sunday, Gazans lamented the shortages of essential goods and lack of an Eid spirit.