Politic?: In The Fog of War

"[This has been] one of the hardest days [of the war, but the offensive will continue]."
"We are in the middle of a war that is more than justified."
"In this war, we are making big achievements, like the encircling of Khan Younis, and there are also very heavy losses."
"I mourn for our fallen heroic soldiers. I hug the families in their time of need and we all pray for the peace of our wounded."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

"[The war will determine Israel's future] for decades to come."
"The fall of the fighters is a requirement to achieve the goals of the war."
"Over the past day, [Israeli Defence Forces] troops carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Younis and deepened the operation in the area. The area is a significant stronghold of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade."
"Ground troops engaged in close-quarters combat, directed [air force] strikes, and used intelligence to co-ordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists."
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant

Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday, the biggest Israeli death toll in one day of the war against Hamas, with 21 killed in a single incident.

The Israel Defense Forces daily report war casualties, the dead and the injured. Each day's solemn count lists one or two -- at most four -- IDF soldiers, their names, their ranks, their place of origin, identifying yet another fallen sacrifice in the war against a ferociously deadly enemy whose mission is proudly proclaimed as the total destruction of the State of Israel, and death to all Jews. On Monday, the setback in the loss of Israeli troops had another dimension entirely in the deaths of 24 soldiers, reservists and commanders.

On that occasion the single deadliest attack took place on Israeli forces with 21 soldiers in the interiors of buildings being set up for detonation. The Israeli soldiers died when a rocket-propelled grenade triggered explosives they were laying to blow up buildings. The Prime Minister, in expressing his sorrow over the loss, vowed to press on to achieve "absolute victory" in crushing Hamas, with the ultimate goal to free the over 100 Israeli hostages still held by the terrorists.

According to an unidentified senior Egyptian official, a proposal for a two-month ceasefire where the hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and top Hamas leaders in Gaza permitted to relocate to other countries that was proposed by Israel, was rejected by Hamas which insisted that no further hostages would be released until such time that Israel put an end to its offensive and withdrew from Gaza.

On Monday, the Israeli reservists were preparing explosives to demolish two buildings located outside central Gaza's Maghazi refugee camp, close to the Israeli border. A Hamas operative fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a nearby tank. The explosives being laid in the buildings were triggered by the ensuing blast, leading to the collapse of both two-storey buildings, with the soldiers trapped inside.

The troops had been tasked to work on an informal buffer zone about a kilometre wide along the border between Israel and Gaza for the prevention of attacks by terrorists against Israeli communities close to the Gaza border. A promised repeat by Hamas of the terrorist breach of the border through the separation wall when thousands of terrorists streamed into border communities and kibbutzim

ravaging the towns, raping and mutilating girls and women, slaughtering families in their homes, abducting children, women and the elderly on October 7.

Three men are shown carrying a coffin draped in the Israel flag on their shoulders.

Israeli troops carry the coffin of fellow soldier Ilay Levy during his funeral at the military cemetery in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Levy was among three IDF soldiers killed in southern Gaza the previous day. (Oren Ziv/AFP/Getty Images)

According to military spokesman Daniel Hagari, the mission was meant to clear buildings to "create the conditions" that would permit Israeli residents of southern Israel to return to their homes. "It’s a very complicated area – very crowded, with a lot of people living there."

Israeli troops have made use of controlled detonations throughout the conflict in Gaza to destroy structures that Hamas operatives hide in, as well as tunnels that have been used by the terrorists as firing positions. Efforts at removing those threats have led to the massive destruction resulting from the ground offensive.

In a separate event on Monday, three other IDF military died, bringing the total since the October ground offensive began, to the loss of 217 Israeli soldiers. "The IDF has opened an investigation into the disaster. We must draw the necessary lessons and do everything to preserve the lives of our soldiers", added Prime Minister Netanyahu. "While we bow our heads in memory of our fallen, we are not relenting, even for a moment, in striving for the goal that has no alternative—achieving total victory."