TEHRAN, Jan. 07 (MNA) – The Zionist military has confirmed the killing of one more military officer during an encounter with Palestinian Resistance combatants on the ground in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.

Al Jazeera has cited the Zionist army as saying that 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Roy Yoshai Youssef Mordechai was killed in northern Gaza.

This brings to 176 the number of soldiers the regime has confirmed dead since launching the ground invasion of Gaza in November. The latest fatality also pushes the overall deaths among the occupation forces to 511 since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation by the Palestinian Resistance movement, Hamas.

The Zionist military has been announcing the casualties among its soldiers on a daily basis.

However, independent media outlets and Palestinians say the fatalities among the regime’s troops are much higher and that Tel Aviv is hiding the real number to avoid internal and external reactions against the far-right ruling coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli regime's media outlets have also disputed the number of wounded the Israeli military declares as it differs from the statistics provided by hospitals. Some media are instructed to cite different reasons, including diseases for the death of wounded soldiers.

Gaza has become a nightmare for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid global denunciation as well as repeated calls for him at home to resign.

Netanyahu, however once again defied the calls of his opponents on Saturday night, reiterating his pledge that the regime will “continue the war until all its goals are achieved.”

The cabinet I am heading has ordered the military to fight to destroy Hamas, free the prisoners, and ensure that Gaza is no longer a threat, Netanyahu was quoted by the Zionist regime's media sources.

The Israeli premier also said, “We must put everything aside until achieving a complete victory”.

Netanyahu made the remarks as he is facing ire over the bloodshed in Gaza and his inability to free prisoners held by Hamas.

The regime has kept all the crossings of the Gaza Strip closed and keeps pounding the territory with airstrikes and artillery, leaving a trail of death and destruction on an hourly basis.

SD/IRN