Jerusalem | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mourned the loss of 21 soldiers in the deadliest single attack in Gaza and says the army will fight on until “absolute victory.”

In a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said Monday was “one of the hardest days since the outbreak of the war.” He says the army will launch an investigation into the attack, in which a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank, setting off a secondary explosion that brought two buildings down on the soldiers.

It was the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the ground operation began.

In the posting on Tuesday, Netanyahu wrote: “In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.”