Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported more advances by its troops in the southern and northern parts of the Gaza Strip, as the Air Force carried out strikes on dozens of targets of the Hamas Movement.
In a statement, the IDF said that the 98th Division made new attacks in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. In one incident during the clashes there, two Hamas fighters emerged from a tunnel and opened fire at forces of the Duvdevan unit, who responded by killing the fighters and destroying the tunnel shaft.
The IDF released video footage of troops from the 55th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 71st Battalion engaging Hamas fighters in Khan Yunis with support from a combat drone.
Meanwhile in northern Gaza, the 460th Brigade has advanced in the Jabalia refugee camp, capturing a main Hamas outpost in the area and killing several fighters in the process, the IDF said, adding that tunnels and weapons were found in the area.
The IDF noted that the Navy also continued to assist the ground forces, carrying out strikes and shelling of Hamas sites along the coast.
Separately, the IDF acknowledged that two more soldiers, one from the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, another from the 6th Brigade’s 8173rd Battalion and ibe from the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit, were killed during clashes in Gaza. Their death brought the number of Israeli troops killed since the start of ground operations in the Strip to 87.
The recent escalation in IDF operations led to a surge in casualties in Gaza. Death toll in the Strip since the start of the war has risen to 16,248, the Hamas-run government media office said in its last update on December 6.
“The victims include 7,112 children and 4,885 women, while more than 43,616 others were injured,” the office said in a statement, noting that some 7,600 people remain unaccounted for.
Despite worsening humanitarian conditions, efforts to broker a new ceasefire in Gaza appear to have slowed down. By insisting to continue the war on the Strip, Israel is not only endangering more than two million Palestinians but also the Israeli hostages who are still in Hamas hands.
