Gaza City, November 1 (RHC)-- The Israeli military has announced that eleven Israeli soldiers were killed and several others sustained serious injuries while fighting members of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement in the northern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The army said in a statement on Wednesday that two of the soldiers served in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade, while the rest of the soldiers were part of the Givati Infantry Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion.

In a post on X, Israel's minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant called the killing of soldiers in ground battles in Gaza “a hard and painful blow”.  The Givati soldiers were killed after an armored vehicle they were in was hit by an anti-tank guided missile fired by Hamas on Tuesday. Another four soldiers were wounded in the same incident, including one seriously.

The 77th Battalion soldiers were killed after their tank drove over an explosive device. Another two soldiers were seriously hurt in that incident.

Also on Tuesday, another soldier from Givati’s Rotem Battalion was seriously wounded in separate clashes with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.

The total number of Israeli troops killed since October 7 when the Tel Aviv regime when Israel launched its aerial campaign against the Gaza Strip has climbed to at least 326, according to the military.

Meanwhile, local sources reported that Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces are engaged in heavy fighting south of the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

“We regret to announce a complete interruption of all communications and Internet services with the Gaza Strip, due to international routes that were previously reconnected being cut off again,” the Palestinian telecoms company announced. 

Israel severed phone and internet services to Gaza on Friday at the start of its ground offensive. Israel had to restore the services in the face of the international outcry.