Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his first public statement regarding the death of eight Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza, mourning their deaths.

"Citizens of Israel, today we paid a heart-rending price in our just war in defense of our homeland. With deep sorrow, and in heavy mourning, I bow my head together with all citizens of Israel and weep over the fall of our heroic fighters: Deputy company commander in an engineering battalion, Capt. Wassem Mahmoud and additional heroic soldiers whose names have yet to be released," Netanyahu said in a statement Saturday.

Netanyahu said Iran's "axis of evil" will continue trying to "destroy us if we do not stop it."

"Despite the heavy and unsettling price, we must cling to the goals of the war: The destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, the return of all of our hostages, making certain that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel and the return of our residents securely to their homes in both the north and the south," Netanyahu said.

"We are in the midst of a very difficult war. The war is being conducted on several fronts, including the international front. We are ready for many additional challenges. It is at this time that we must show our people's strength of spirit, thanks to which we have overcome all of our enemies," Netanyahu said.

After repeated warnings from the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the World Health Organization about an imminent famine in Gaza, over 50,000 children in Gaza now require treatment for malnutrition, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East released said in a statement Saturday.

"With continued restrictions to humanitarian access, people in #Gaza continue to face desperate levels of hunger. Over 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition UNRWA teams work tirelessly to reach families with aid but the situation is catastrophic," the UNRWA said in a statement on X.

Eight Israeli Defense Forces soldiers were killed in an "incident" in southern Gaza, according to the IDF.

Earlier Saturday, Hamas released a statement saying an operation targeting Israeli military vehicles in Rafah killed several IDF soldiers. The IDF has not commented on the nature of the soldiers' deaths.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Yael Benaya

Andrey Kozlov, one of the four Israeli hostages rescued from Gaza on Saturday, is urging Israelis to gather Saturday at "Hostage Square" in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and their families.

"I'm already in Israel at home. But a lot of hostages are still there in Gaza," Kozlov, 27, said in a video message. "I saw a lot of rallies on Saturday, and it gave me a lot of hope."

Kozlov’s girlfriend told ABC News this week that Kozlov was psychologically tortured while in captivity, and she said that he told her the moment he realized the Israeli soldiers were there to save him, he felt he was reborn.

The Israeli political security cabinet "discussed steps to strengthen settlements in the West Bank, among other things, in response to countries that unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state after October 7," in a meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized Palestine as a state at the end of May. Separately, 143 of the 193 members in the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution stating that Palestinians qualify for full-member status at the United Nations at the beginning of May, according to the New York Times.

The cabinet also discussed "a series of reactions against the Palestinian Authority following its actions against Israel in international bodies," the statement added.

The Israeli minister of defense and the deputy prime minister "requested an additional period of time to make their comments," the statement says, and then the prime minister will "bring all the proposals to a vote at the next cabinet meeting."

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller