GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Israeli army early on Wednesday announced three more soldiers were killed in the clashes in the northern Gaza Strip.

In a statement cited by the Times of Israel online newspaper, the Israeli army identified the three soldiers as Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz, 23, deputy commander in the army's Givati Brigade, Staff Sgt. Itay Buton, 20, and Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman, 21, both from the Givati Brigade.

In an earlier statement, the Israeli army also declared five soldiers, including commanders, killed in Gaza, in addition to the injury of 43 soldiers, nine of them in serious condition, in Gaza.

A total of 164 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli ground operation in the narrow enclave on Oct. 27.

The death toll of the Israeli army since the launch of Israeli attacks on Gaza on Oct. 7 has risen to 491.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,915 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,918 others, according to local health authorities.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar