JERUSALEM

At least 540 Israeli soldiers have been injured by “friendly fire” since Israel expanded its ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, according to Israeli media on Monday.

Israeli Channel 12, citing military figures, said that 1,300 soldiers have been wounded since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza, including 540 in operational accidents.

Military figures show that 562 soldiers have been killed and 2,820 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel killing nearly 1,200 Israelis.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since killing at least 27,365 Palestinians and injuring 66,630 others.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.