8/12/2023–|Last updated: 12/8/202307:50 PM (Mecca time)
Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – announced today, Friday, the targeting of Tel Aviv and concentrations of Israeli forces in various areas of the Gaza Strip, and confirmed the killing of an Israeli soldier whom the occupation forces tried to recover, while Israel continued its violent raids on the Strip, leaving more than 300 martyrs. .
The Al-Qassam Brigades announced the targeting of Tel Aviv and the Muftahim community with a number of missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians. It explained that the bombing also targeted the Sderot settlement in the Gaza Strip with a 114 mm short-range “Rajum” missile system.
Sirens sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area, as well as in Kiryat Shmona in the Upper Galilee, and the Israeli police announced that they were combing areas in the city in search of fragments of missile interceptors, according to what they said.
The Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that its resistance fighters targeted an Israeli force stationed inside Ibn Uthaymeen School, northeast of the city of Khan Yunis, with an anti-fortification TPG shell, and clashed with them from point zero, leaving them dead and wounded.
The Brigades also announced the targeting of a gathering of Israeli forces east of Tal al-Zaatar, northeast and east of Khan Yunis with a barrage of mortar shells.
A field source in the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the failure of the occupation’s attempt to storm deep into the Jabalia camp and the destruction of a large number of its vehicles at the outskirts of the camp, in addition to targeting a gathering of occupation forces in the axis south of Gaza City with a short-range rajoum missile system.
Occupation losses
The Al-Qassam Brigades said that this morning it thwarted an Israeli attempt to reach an Israeli soldier detained by it, and added that it discovered the attacking force and clashed with it, resulting in the killing of the captured soldier, Sa’ar Baruch, who was 25 years old.
Al-Qassam explained that Israeli warplanes intervened and bombed the place with a series of raids to cover up the withdrawal of the attacking force.
On the other hand, the Israeli army announced that an officer with the rank of major and a soldier – one of them in the 53rd Armored Battalion and the other a tank commander from the same battalion – were killed in the fierce battles in northern Gaza, while a third soldier was injured, described as extremely serious.
This brings the number of Israeli soldiers and officers killed since the collapse of the truce last week to 25, while the total toll since the start of the ground operation reached 97, bringing the total number of army deaths since October 7 to 421.
Israeli raids
On Friday, the Israeli army continued its heavy raids on various parts of the Gaza Strip, and announced that it had “hit 450 targets” in Gaza in land, air and sea operations, resulting in many martyrs and wounded.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that hospitals received during the past hours 313 martyrs and 558 injured, and explained that a large number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a statement that the total toll since the start of the Israeli aggression rose to 17,487 martyrs and 46,480 injured, pointing out that 70% of the victims were women and children.
The Israeli occupation forces’ air strikes and violent artillery shelling targeted various areas in the north, center and south of the Gaza Strip. In the north, the occupation intensified the bombing and launched violent air strikes targeting Beit Hanoun. It also bombarded shelter centers in the Jabalia camp with incendiary bombs, resulting in casualties.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that there were martyrs and wounded in an Israeli bombing that targeted homes in the Nuseirat and Al-Maghazi camps and in Deir Al-Balah.
In the south, artillery shelling continued on many areas in Khan Yunis, resulting in many martyrs, as occupation aircraft targeted civilian homes and a school housing displaced people east of the city. Intense raids also targeted the vicinity of the Gaza European Hospital.
Targeting mosques
Today, Friday, Israeli air strikes targeted a mosque in the Abasan area, east of Khan Yunis, resulting in its complete destruction. Israeli occupation aircraft also destroyed the Jaffa Mosque in Deir al-Balah at dawn today.
Occupation aircraft destroyed large parts of the historic Al-Omari Mosque in the Old City of Gaza City. Al-Omari Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Gaza City and the world, and its total area, including its sanctuary and outdoor areas, is about 4,100 square metres.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) described the Israeli army’s bombing of the Al-Omari Mosque as “a barbaric and heinous crime that demonstrates the extent of the hidden hatred that this artificial entity, which lacks any historical roots, harbors against human civilization.”
Hamas added, in a statement, that the Israeli aggression against Gaza has caused the destruction of 104 mosques so far, and 3 historic churches.
