On Sunday, Israel’s military made significant incursions in Northern Gaza’s Shejaia district and extended their reach into the west and central areas of Rafah in the south. This led to the death of a minimum of six Palestinians and the destruction of numerous homes, according to the locals.
They revealed that Israeli tanks, having re-entered Shejaia four days prior, launched a barrage of missiles at an array of homes. This left residents confined within their homes, with no means of escape.
The Israeli army announced that during their operations in Shejaia, they had eliminated several Palestinian gunmen, uncovered weapon caches and disabled key military infrastructure. They also detailed that two Israeli soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza on the previous day.
Both Hamas’s military branch and their allies, Islamic Jihad declared that they had engaged in ferocious combat in both Shejaia and Rafah. According to them, they had retaliated with anti-tank rockets and mortar explosives against the Israeli forces present.
Despite Israel’s eight-month-long air and ground offensive in Gaza, militants continue to launch assaults on Israeli forces, including in places previously claimed to be under Israeli control.
Efforts by Arab intermediaries, supported by the US, failed to broker a ceasefire. Hamas insists that any agreement must entail the cessation of warfare and a complete Israeli retreat from Gaza. Conversely, Israel argues that it will only consent to temporary lulls in combat until Hamas, in power since 2007, is entirely uprooted.
In Rafah, situated near Egypt’s border, Israeli forces made further advances into numerous sectors through the city, while in Shaboura, a central region in Rafah, an Israeli assault reportedly resulted in six fatalities.
The bodies of the slain Zurub family were transported to the proximate Nasser hospital located in Khan Younis city. On Sunday, several family members paid tributes to their departed kin, whose bodies were draped in white cloths and later carried to set aside burial locations.
As per residents, the iconic Al-Awda mosque located in Rafah’s center was set aflame by the Israeli army. Israel states that its military activities in Rafah aim to eliminate the remaining armed factions of Hamas.
On Sunday, the Israeli military announced continuous “targeted, intelligence-based” operations in Rafah, which led to the termination of several gunmen in varied encounters and the disabling of tunnels.
The recent conflict ignited when militants led by Hamas invaded southern Israel on 7th October, resulting in approximately 1,200 fatalities and the capture of over 250 individuals, as per Israeli records. Israel’s counterstrike has thus far resulted in almost 38,000 casualties, reports the Health Ministry of Gaza, and caused extensive damage to the densely-populated coastal area.
The Ministry doesn’t separate casualties into fighters and civilians, however, they claim the majority of the deceased are civilians. Over 300 of Israel’s military personnel have lost their lives in Gaza, with Israel insisting that at least a third of the deceased Palestinians were combatants, as reported by Reuters.