Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the chief spokesman of the military, identified the five soldiers who were killed and said they were carrying out an attack on a Hamas brigade in the northern town of Beit Hanoun intended to take out the armed group’s positions above and below ground.

The Israeli airstrikes struck tents in the Muwasi area on the southern end of Gaza's Mediterranean coast, killing seven people, including a Palestinian doctor and his three children