The Israeli occupation army has acknowledged the death of an officer and six soldiers during battles in southern Gaza, following earlier reports by Israeli media that four soldiers were killed and 17 injured in a complex ambush in Khan Younis.
اضافة اعلان
The army also confirmed that 16 other soldiers from the Combat Engineering Battalion 605 were wounded in the ambush. According to the army, the seven soldiers were completely burned after an explosive device detonated under an armored Puma engineering vehicle in Khan Younis, and evacuating them was extremely difficult.
Israeli media described the incident in Khan Younis as one of the most severe the army has faced in recent months.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that a preliminary investigation revealed the armored carrier caught fire with the soldiers inside, and it took the army many hours to identify the bodies. The evacuation helicopters returned empty to their bases after the army was forced to transport the burnt carrier and remains back into Israel.
The paper also reported that the perpetrators who planted the explosive device have not yet been located, and intense battles broke out in the area. Palestinian fighters reportedly targeted Israeli rescue forces.
Israeli media said on Tuesday that some soldiers were missing at the ambush site, prompting increased aerial surveillance to evacuate the wounded and search for the missing.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, claimed responsibility for the ambush, stating via Telegram that their fighters targeted an Israeli force inside a house in southern Khan Younis using a “Yassin 105” rocket and an RPG, resulting in Israeli casualties.
These developments come amid continuous Palestinian resistance attacks on Israeli forces in both the southern and northern Gaza Strip.
Al-Qassam Brigades also announced that they targeted a Merkava tank in southern Khan Younis with a Shawaz explosive device and a “Yassin 105” round in the Old Licensing area.
Meanwhile, Saraya al-Quds (the military wing of Islamic Jihad) said it shelled Israeli troop gatherings in the “Western Satar” area north of Khan Younis with mortar rounds, reporting direct hits and subsequent military vehicle movements and helicopter evacuations.
They also confirmed that their fighters destroyed an Israeli military vehicle using a high-powered explosive device in central Khan Younis.
Earlier today, the al-Qassam Brigades said they killed three Israeli soldiers in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
(Source: Al Jazeera)
