THE Israeli military says seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

A Palestinian attacker is reported to have attached a bomb to their armoured vehicle while Palestinians health officials in the battered enclave reported that 79 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the strip today.

Among those reported killed in Gaza were 33 people who died while trying to access aid.

Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the Israeli army’s chief spokesman, said the soldiers were attacked in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where the army has operated on and off throughout much of the war.

“Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,” he said.

The Israeli army said another soldier was seriously wounded in a separate incident in Khan Younis. It gave no further details, but Hamas said on its Telegram channel it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building in the area.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian woman during a raid in East Jerusalem, her husband and a local Palestinian official said.

Joudah al-Obeidi, a resident of the neighbourhood’s Shuafat refugee camp, said his wife Zahia al-Obeidi was standing on the roof of their home when Israeli forces stormed the camp and shot her in the head. He said she had posed no threat.

“It is a crime,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “What danger did a sick 66-year-old woman pose to them?”

Marouf al-Refai, the Palestinian official, said Israeli forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Ms Obeidi with a shot to the head and took her body away.

Israeli police said they were investigating the incident.

This comes a day after the United States authorised providing $30 million (around £22m) to a US and Israeli-backed group that is distributing food in Gaza, a Washington official said on Tuesday.

The operation by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has drawn criticism from other humanitarian organisations.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks. 

The Israeli military claims it has fired warning shots at people approaching its forces in a suspicious manner.

Oxfam America condemned the Trump administration’s funding decision on Tuesday, calling GHF “a multimillion-dollar distraction from the actual causes — and solutions — of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis that also carries fatal risks for its intended beneficiaries.”