The intense battles continue on multiple fronts in the Gaza Strip between the resistance factions and the Israeli occupation forces. Alarms sounded in North Gaza and other areas in the periphery.
According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent, heavy machine gun clashes erupted in the southern part of Gaza City and other areas in Khan Younis. Israeli media reported the renewal of combat by the resistance in northern Gaza.
The area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip has been under continuous shelling by Israeli artillery since Monday morning.
Resistance Operations
On the other hand, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced the seizure of an Israeli reconnaissance drone on an intelligence mission west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The spokesperson for Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, stated that their fighters carried out 17 different military operations, targeting 15 Israeli soldiers, and sniping an officer and a soldier. They also claimed casualties among the Israeli forces.
Additionally, Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, targeted Israeli soldiers with “Buraq” shells and shelled the positions of Israeli soldiers and vehicles with mortar shells in the southwest axis of Khan Younis.
They also fired mortar shells at Israeli soldiers’ positions and vehicles in the area, and broadcasted footage of rocket barrage targeting Israeli military sites and gatherings east of the central governorate.
Fighting in the North and South
In response, the Israeli occupation forces stated that they have been engaged in extensive combat in Khan Younis, which they described as a stronghold of Hamas. They added that the Paratroopers Brigade conducted operations against Palestinian armed individuals in the Hope neighborhood in Khan Younis. The Israeli military released images claiming to be of an airstrike on armed individuals in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Israeli military and political sources reported an increase in fighting in Gaza City and the northern areas of the strip. Haaretz reported these sources stating that this indicates Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions’ renewed ability to move and engage in combat in these areas.
Haaretz quoted Gaza residents stating that people in civilian attire and armed individuals with RPGs attack the army and open fire. It added that Hamas is attempting to escalate the fighting in these areas, claimed by Israel to be under its control, to demonstrate Hamas’ organizational and operational capabilities and to ease the Israeli military pressure in the southern part of the strip.
Gaza Periphery
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported alarms in Yad Mordechai in north Gaza and other areas in the periphery.
Israeli Channel 12 stated that alarms sounded in the Yad Mordechai settlement without reports of human or material casualties, and the Israeli army did not issue any official comment on the reason for the alarms.
The channel published a video clip it claimed to be of parts of a rocket launched from Gaza near the “Yad Mordechai” settlement in the north of Gaza periphery, stating that no human or material damage was caused.
Alarms frequently sound in a number of Israeli settlements and cities, where Palestinian factions respond to Tel Aviv’s raids and attacks on Gaza by launching rockets towards several Israeli areas.
In the meantime, the Israeli broadcasting authority reported that the mayors of settlements within a 7-kilometer range from the Gaza border demanded that the Israeli government keep them outside of this range until July 1st and not in the beginning of March, as requested by the government.
The authority stated that these demands came after intense discussions lasting 4 hours with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Finance, but did not lead to any results.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza Strip, resulting in 27,365 martyrs and 66,630 injured, mostly children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities. This war has caused immense destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the United Nations.
