Five soldiers were killed in the northern Gaza strip by friendly fire from a nearby tank, the Israeli military has said.
The soldiers were killed in tank crossfire and seven others were injured during fighting on Wednesday.
Israeli ground forces re-entered parts of northern Gaza this month to crack down on attempts by the Islamist group Hamas to regroup.
The nation’s military said: "There was a tank crossfire of the 202 battalion resulting in the death of five soldiers and some soldiers injured.
“The soldiers were evacuated for further medical treatment, the families were updated.”
At least 27 soldiers have been killed in mistaken fire by Israeli forces since the war in Gaza began seven months ago, according to military figures.
Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs from militants concentrated there, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing, Palestinian residents and militants said.
Armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have been able to fight up and down the Gaza Strip, using heavily fortified tunnels to stage attacks in both the north - the focus of Israel's initial invasion - and new battlegrounds like Rafah.
Israel says four Hamas battalions are now in Rafah along with hostages abducted during the October 7 assault, but faces pressure from the United States, Europe and the United Nations not to invade the city, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians are sheltering.
More than 35,000 Gazans have already been killed, according to health officials in the Hamas-run coastal enclave and malnutrition is widespread as international aid efforts are blocked by the violence.
