Jerusalem, Aug 25 (IANS): Israel has said that three soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip amid its ongoing military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday in a statement that two of them were killed on Friday in a blast in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and the third during a gunfight with Palestinian fighters, Xinhua news agency reported.

The soldiers, two sergeants first class and a sergeant major, were killed in central Gaza, the Israeli army said.

Since the beginning of the Gaza conflict, which was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel last October, a total of 699 Israeli soldiers have been killed, according to Israeli military figures.

On Saturday, Palestinian security sources reported that the Israeli army has withdrawn from northern Khan Younis in southern Gaza but continues combat in other parts of the enclave.

The army said in a statement that it destroyed a 500-metre-long tunnel belonging to the Islamic Jihad movement and other militant infrastructures in Khan Younis, adding its ground forces were carrying out attacks in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where they killed "dozens of militants".

The Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks has exceeded 40,000, according to Gaza health authorities. On Saturday alone, at least 50 people were killed.

Hamas operatives also seized 251 people, 105 of whom are still captive in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,334 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Most of the deceased are women and children, according to the UN Human Rights Office.