The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Thursday the death of at least 10 Israeli officers and soldiers in the battles of Shujaiyya, in the Gaza Strip. In their statement, the Brigades reported that their fighters, after returning from the front lines in the Shujaiyya district, targeted an Israeli foot patrol on Hassanein Street with high explosive devices. They also declared that they had hit two Merkava Israeli tanks with Yasin 105 shells in Shujaiyya, and targeted 4 tanks and 4 troop carriers in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City with Yasin 105 anti-tank shells, in addition to hitting an Israeli foot patrol that had fortified itself inside a building in Sheikh Radwan with a TPG (Tanzim Qassam Grenade) designed to penetrate fortifications.
Elsewhere, in the Zeitoun district southeast of Gaza City, Al-Qassam fighters targeted an Israeli tank with a Yasin shell. Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, stated they are engaging in fierce clashes with Israeli forces at the advancing fronts in Zeitoun, Shujaiyya to the east, and Sheikh Radwan to the west. They added that they had bombarded the Sofa military site and the surrounding Israeli military gatherings with rocket salvos.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported that sirens were sounding in Nir Am and Ein Hashlosha in the southern envelope of Gaza. Earlier in the day, the Israeli military announced the death of an armored corps officer in battles south of the Gaza Strip, following its acknowledgement on Wednesday that 10 of its officers and soldiers were killed in the Shujaiyya district east of Gaza City.
To date, the Israeli army has confirmed the loss of 116 lives and 600 injuries among its ranks since the commencement of the ground incursion into the Gaza Strip at the end of October, following the launch of the ‘flood of the Al-Aqsa’ operation by Palestinian resistance.
