Three Israeli officers killed in Gaza combat, confirms army

The Israeli military announced on Saturday the deaths of three reserve officers killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip the previous day.

The officers, two major generals and a lieutenant colonel, were killed in central Gaza, the military said, without giving further details.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces have been engaged in fierce fighting with Palestinian in central Gaza, particularly in the Deir el-Balah area.

The latest deaths bring the military's losses in the Gaza campaign to 338 since it launched a ground offensive in the Palestinian territory on October 27.

The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to sraeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 people, 105 of whom are still captive in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has so far killed at least 40,334 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN human rights office.