1/18/2024–|Last updated: 1/18/202401:39 PM (Mecca time)
Clashes escalated on Thursday between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation forces in the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, and the resistance announced more operations against foot forces and tanks of the occupation army, which admitted that there were deaths among its ranks.
As the aggression against the Gaza Strip entered its 104th day, Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that clashes had occurred east of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, and an Israeli artillery shelling had occurred east of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. He confirmed the death of two Palestinians and the injury of others in a bombing on the Abasan area, east of Khan Yunis.
Tel Aviv Tribune obtained pictures showing columns of smoke rising in different areas of Khan Yunis, and the reporter confirmed that the occupation forces targeted several raids on the southern areas of the Strip, where the clashes were taking place.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported hearing violent explosions in the vicinity of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
In turn, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, said that its fighters engaged in fierce clashes with machine guns with occupation soldiers and vehicles on the front lines east of Jabalia.
For his part, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the Israeli army witnessed the launching of missiles from Khan Yunis towards areas around the Gaza Strip.
Hagari added in a press conference that an army division in Khan Yunis expanded its attack to target a Hamas battalion responsible for the rockets.
The spokesman said that the army killed 40 militants in the Khan Yunis area and two militants in the northern Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.
New resistance operations
Meanwhile, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that it had targeted an Israeli force stationed in a house with an anti-fortified shell, killing 5 of its members east of the city of Khan Yunis.
Al-Qassam announced the destruction of 6 Merkava tanks in the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, and also announced the killing of 12 Israeli soldiers in the camp and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
The Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast images that it said were of targeting an Israeli Merkava tank east of the Bureij refugee camp with an “Al-Yassin 105” missile, and another that it said was of Qassam mortar units targeting occupation gatherings in the areas of incursion into the Gaza Strip. It also broadcast images that it said were of the seizure of two “Skylark” drones in Gaza City. .
Yesterday, Wednesday, the Israeli army announced the killing of 4 soldiers – including 3 officers – in battles in the Gaza Strip.
This brings the number of Israeli army deaths to 525 since last October 7. The Israeli army also announced that 35 soldiers were injured in battles in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.
Traces of destruction were observed in one of the cemeteries after the occupation forces withdrew from an area in Khan Yunis#Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/7kmWnsx90i
– Tel Aviv Tribune Channel (@AJArabic) January 18, 2024
They refused to comply
The official Israeli radio revealed that a number of reserve forces soldiers refused to comply with military service and participate in the fighting inside the Gaza Strip.
She pointed out that reserve forces were summoned after the start of the war in Gaza, to participate in the formation of a new military battalion whose mission is to defend the towns surrounding Gaza and settlements in the West Bank.
The radio added that during the training and equipping operations, the soldiers were surprised to be informed that they would enter Gaza to participate in combat actions that include what the army describes as clearing homes of militants and searching for combat means, weapons, and tunnels, without undergoing appropriate training for these tasks.
In interviews conducted by the radio with a number of soldiers, they stated that half of the fighters in the battalion withdrew and refused to comply with orders.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that, as of yesterday, Wednesday, left 24,448 martyrs and 61,504 injured, and caused the displacement of more than 85% (about 1.9 million people) of the Strip’s population, according to the Palestinian authorities and the United Nations. .