The Israeli army announced on Thursday that two officers and a soldier were killed and five other soldiers – including an officer from the armored forces – were seriously injured in battles in the southern Gaza Strip, while clashes renewed in Jabalia amid continued Israeli raids on several areas of the Strip and a communications outage for the second day in a row.
The Israeli army did not add further details about the circumstances of the battles that led to the death and injury of its soldiers.
Thus, the number of Israeli officers and soldiers killed since the start of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7 last year rose to 469, including 143 since the beginning of the ground operation in the besieged Strip.
On the other hand, the occupation army announced that residents of the towns – located 4 kilometers from the border with the Gaza Strip – can return to their homes.
Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – said yesterday that during the past 72 hours, Al-Qassam fighters were able to completely or partially destroy 41 military vehicles, and killed 25 Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, in addition to wounding dozens of Israeli soldiers. Various injuries.
The Al-Qassam Phalange spokesman indicated that the Phalange fighters targeted the invading Israeli forces with missiles and explosive devices, clashing with them from zero distance. They also targeted the rescue teams, in addition to booby-trapping two tunnels and a house, detonating them against the occupation soldiers, and sniping one of the soldiers.
Renewed clashes and bombing
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent confirmed renewed clashes between Palestinian resistance factions and the occupation forces in the vicinity of the administration site of the Al-Qassam Brigades, east of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, adding that Israeli fighters bombed Jabalia.
The reporter added that Israeli soldiers continue to besiege – since yesterday – a building belonging to the Red Crescent in Jabalia, with medics and wounded inside.
The Red Crescent confirmed yesterday that the siege of its ambulance center in Jabalia comes amid continued artillery shelling in the vicinity of the center and the hearing of explosions, while occupation snipers are on the roofs of surrounding buildings, threatening the safety of 127 paramedics, volunteers, and their displaced families.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent also said that Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids on several locations in the central Gaza Strip and on the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Strip, resulting in the death of a number of citizens and the wounding of others.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the death toll from the Israeli aggression amounted to more than 20,000 martyrs, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women, while the number of injured reached more than 52,600.
Evacuation of Khan Yunis
For its part, the United Nations announced that the Israeli army ordered the “immediate evacuation” of an area covering about 20% of the area of the city of Khan Yunis, where many Palestinians who were displaced from the northern and central Gaza Strip took refuge as the war on Gaza continued.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) explained that the scale of displacement that will result from the evacuation order is not clear, and the new evacuation order came after the occupation army announced last Monday the intensification of its operations in Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army identifies evacuation areas on a map published on its website, and the UN office expressed its regret that the residents’ ability to obtain this information is undermined by the repeated interruptions in communications and the complete loss of electricity as well.