21 Israeli troops killed in the deadliest attack on the military since the Gaza offensive began

Hours later, the military announced that ground forces encircled the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest, and thick, black smoke could be seen rising over the city as thousands of Palestinians fled south.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks and troops also moved into Muwasi, a nearby coastal area that the military previously declared a safe zone for Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the Israeli soldiers, who died when the blast from a rocket-propelled grenade triggered explosives they were laying to blow up buildings. He vowed to press ahead toward “absolute victory,” including crushing Hamas and freeing more than 100 Israeli hostages still held by militants.

Israelis are increasingly questioning whether it’s possible to achieve those war aims.

In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, outraged Israelis set aside long simmering political differences and rallied behind the war.

More than 100 days later, divisions are re-emerging, and anger is growing over Netanyahu’s conduct of the war. Families of the hostages have called for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas, saying time is running out to bring their relatives home alive.

A senior Egyptian official said Israel has proposed a two-month cease-fire in which the hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas rejected the proposal and insists no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza.

Israel’s government declined to comment on the talks.

Egypt and Qatar — which have brokered past agreements between Israel and Hamas — were developing a multistage proposal to try to bridge the gaps, the official said.

‘One of the hardest days’

Israeli reservists were preparing explosives Monday to demolish two buildings outside central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp, near the Israeli border, when a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank nearby. The blast triggered the explosives, collapsing both two-story buildings onto the soldiers.

Throughout the war, Israeli troops have used controlled detonations to destroy structures that the military claims hide Hamas tunnels or have been used by militants as firing positions — one reason for the massive destruction wreaked by the ground offensive.

Blasts have destroyed entire city blocks, apartment complexes, government buildings and universities, fueling Palestinians’ fears that the territory will left unlivable.

At least 217 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began in late October, including three killed in a separate event Monday, according to the military.

Netanyahu acknowledged on social media that it was “one of the hardest days” of the war but vowed to keep up the offensive.

“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,” he later said in a video statement.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas crossed the border Oct. 7. The fighting killed more than 1,200 people and militants abducted some 250 others.

The offensive has caused widespread death and destruction, killing at least 25,490 people — the majority women and children — and wounding another 63,354, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

An estimated 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes in a humanitarian crisis that has left one-quarter of the population facing starvation.

Troops in ‘safe zone’

With fighting raging in neighboring Khan Younis city, witnesses said in the past few days Israeli troops and tanks entered parts of Muwasi. Previously, the military told Palestinians to take refuge in the tiny rural area on the Mediterranean coast, saying it would be spared military operations.

On Monday, troops stormed Al-Khair Hospital inside the zone and struck the nearby Al-Aqsa University where displaced people were sheltering, according to health officials.

The advance sent families who fled to the area from fighting elsewhere fleeing once more, said one witness, Aseel al-Muqayed. One main street “had been very crowded with displaced people, you could hardly find a place without a tent. Now the area is almost empty,” she said, adding that she had seen tanks now stationed nearby.

Inside Khan Younis, heavy fighting raged around the two main hospitals. Shelling hit the fourth floor of Al-Amal Hospital, where a shell hit the fourth floor, killing one person and wounding 10 others, according to Raed al-Nems, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent rescue service, which runs the facility.

Shelling on Monday also hit a U.N. school in the city sheltering displaced people, killing at least six people, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.