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On December 20, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, released video footage from recent clashes with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The footage shows Hamas fighters attacking several armored personnel carriers, a main battle tank, a bulldozer and a gathering of troops of the IDF with rocket-propelled grenades from point blank, scoring direct hits.
Separately, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades announced that its fighters blew up two booby-trapped tunnels in Israeli troops in Khan Yunis. It also reported attacks with rocket-propelled grenades and explosive devices against three tanks and a personnel carrier in the city.
Hamas fighters targeted three other Israeli tanks with rocket-propelled grenades in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
From its side, the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said that its fighters struck two IDF vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades in the area of al-Mughraqa in central Gaza and targeted an Israeli force advancing with a bulldozer in the Shejaiya neighborhood in the northern part of the Strip with a heavy explosive device.
The al-Quds Brigades previously released video footage showing a mortar attack on IDF gatherings in Khan Yunis and an Israeli helicopter evacuating casualties.
The IDF admitted losing two troops on December 20, a soldier from the Harel Brigade’s 363rd Battalion and a logistics commander from the Givati Brigade. Their death brought the toll of Israeli troops killed in ground operations in Gaza to 134. Around 600 others have been reportedly wounded, so far.
The IDF expanded ground operations in Khan Yunis and intensified strikes on all of Gaza in the last few days. However, this escalation appears to be an attempt to pressure Hamas and other armed factions in the Strip to accept a new temporary ceasefire agreement that includes the release of some of the remaining Israeli hostages.
Top officials from both Hamas and Islamic Jihad are holding talks on the proposed agreement in Egypt, which is mediating the process along with Qatar.
