JERUSALEM 

The Israeli army announced Tuesday that another officer was killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip.

Maj. David Shakuri, 30, the deputy commander of the Combat Engineering Corps' 601st Battalion, was killed while fighting in northern Gaza, the statement said.

With the latest death, the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the war started on Oct. 7 has increased to 563, including 226 who have died since the start of the ground operation on Oct. 27.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on Gaza following an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing at least 27,585 Palestinians and injuring 66,978 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

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.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio