Jerusalem, Dec 22 (EFE).- An Israeli general has died in combat in Gaza, the army said Friday.
Major General Tal Shua, 31, was the highest ranking of the 139 Israeli military personnel to have been killed in the Palestinian Strip since Israel’s ground offensive began in October.
The Israeli army said Shua died in the south of the Palestinian enclave while fighting for an engineering battalion.
A 21-year-old lieutenant, Shai Ayeli, who was serving as a cadet in a rescue unit in northern Gaza, was also killed in the last few hours, according to an army statement, while three soldiers from different units in different parts of Gaza were seriously wounded.
On Oct. 7, the Islamist group Hamas launched an attack in Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped around 240 others.
Since that attack, the Israeli army has killed 471 soldiers and wounded 1,929, 771 during the military operation in the Palestinian enclave, according to Israeli forces.
The Israeli military offensive has left at least 20,057 dead and 53,320 wounded, the vast majority civilians, with many of them being children and women, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry. EFE
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