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Late on November 4, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, released video footage showing an attack by its fighters against buildings where Israeli troops were holding up in the city of Beit Hanoun in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas fighters snuck out from the tunnel then attacked the buildings with rocket-propelled grenades. It is unclear if any soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were wounded or killed in the hit-and-run attack.
Earlier, Hamas said its fighters destroyed two military vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades and targeted a main battle tank with an anti-tank guided missile to the south and west of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City. A second tank was supposedly destroyed in the area of al-Salatin to the west of the city of Beit Lahia.
Several gatherings of the IDF were also targeted with mortars by the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
From its side, the IDF accused Hamas of attacking troops working to open up a humanitarian corridor for Palestinians to evacuate from northern Gaza to its south.
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee announced earlier that between 01:00 p.m. and 04:00 p.m. [local time] the Salah a-Din Road would be open for Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza.
According to the IDF, Hamas took advantage of the situation, and launched mortars and anti-tank guided missiles at troops working to open the road.
The IDF alleged that Hamas did so “in order to prevent [the road’s] opening for the movement of residents of the Gaza Strip.”
Despite the IDF’s recent advance in Gaza, rocket attacks on Israel continued. During the day, Hamas fired rockets at the settlement of Nirim as well as the cities of Ashdod and Sderot.
The group also launched a heavy Ayyash250 rocket at the southern Israeli city of Eilat. However, it was intercepted by the Arrow air defense system, according to the IDF. No casualties or material losses were reported.
The IDF didn’t advance much or during the day. Israeli troops are likely making preparation to advance along the beach and meet up with the units that encircled Gaza City from the south. Once this task is completed, a fierce battle will likely break out inside the highly-dense city. Not all civilians will get the chance to evacuate.
