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Israeli Army Claims Advance In ‘Hamas Main Stronghold’ In Southern Gaza (Video)

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Israeli Army Claims Advance In ‘Hamas Main Stronghold’ In Southern Gaza (Video)

Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)

On December 8, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that its 98th Division advanced in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, describing the city as a “main stronghold” of the Hamas Movement.

The IDF said that the 7th Armored Brigade has launched an assault to break Hamas’s lines of defense in southern Gaza, striking dozens of anti-tank missile launch sites and observation posts. It added that the forces raided a main outpost belonging to Hamas’s Deir al-Balah battalion, capturing weapons and intelligence materials.

Troops of the Givati Infantry Brigade, 55th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade and Kiryati Reserve Armored Brigade also surrounded Khan Younis and carried out “targeted raids” against Hamas sites, according to the IDF.

It added that in one of the raids, the troops found Hamas weapons in a school, including rocket launchers, mortar launchers, explosives devices and other equipment.

In addition, the Kiryati Brigade troops captured a Hamas command center inside a mosque, where a number of fighters were holed up, the IDF said, noting the cell was killed, as was another group of Hamas fighters that attempted to flee into a tunnel in the area.

The Commando Brigade also carried out raids against what the IDF calls Hamas “centers of gravity” in Khan Younis, including the homes of Hamas operatives. Inside the homes, Israeli troops found weaponry and intelligence materials. Amid the battles, some Hamas fighters have surrendered to the troops, according to the IDF.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, reported heavy clashes in Khan Yunis and said that its fighters destroyed two armored personnel carriers and targeted several gatherings of Israeli troops in the city.

The IDF admitted that two more soldiers, one from the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion and another from the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion, were killed in Gaza. Their death brought the toll of Israeli troops killed during ground operations in the Strip to 93.

Israel expanded ground operations to include Khan Yunis after the week-long ceasefire in Gaza ended on December 1. The IDF reported an advance in the city more than once in recent days. However, it is still unclear how much of the city has been occupied by Israeli troops.

The ongoing offensive in the city is apparently aimed to cut the southern part of Gaza in half, further fragmenting the Strip where more than two million Palestinians live.

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