JERUSALEM

Three Israeli soldiers have been killed and 16 others injured daily in the Gaza Strip since the army expanded its ground offensive in the enclave on Oct. 27, an Anadolu tally shows.

The army launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Palestinian territory in retaliation for a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

On Oct. 27, the army expanded its ground operation in the seaside enclave amid clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters.

According to figures released by the Israeli army, 164 soldiers have been killed and 874 others injured in fighting in the Palestinian territory since Oct. 27. Among those injured were 329 soldiers in serious condition.

Israeli media, however, suggest that the figures of the injured soldiers are higher than those announced by the military.

Names of soldiers allowed by the army to be published on its website showed that 498 troops have been killed and 2,066 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

As the fighting was halted under a weeklong humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas on Nov. 24, the figures announced by the army indicate that more than three soldiers have been killed every day in the Gaza Strip.

This figure does not include 60 policemen and 10 members of the Shin Bet domestic security service, who were killed since the outbreak of the Gaza war.

At least 21,110 Palestinians have been killed and 55,243 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, according to local health authorities, while around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio