As they stepped their operations in the southern portion of the Palestinian territory, Israeli army forces declared on Thursday that they had reached the southernmost point of their ground assault of Gaza thus far.
Tensions in the region erupted after Pakistani strikes in Iran and fresh US military action targeting Iran-backed Yemeni rebels, raising fears that the Israel-Hamas war will intensify.
In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city, the army said its Givati Brigade was “fighting in the southernmost area that ground troops have operated in so far”.
“The soldiers eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support,” it said.
According to the report, soldiers stormed the commanders’ offices and the “Martyr’s Outpost” of Hamas’s Khan Yunis brigade, taking weapons caches that included rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.
Smoke was seen billowing over central-southern Gaza in afternoon live footage from AFPTV.
Overnight, 93 deaths were recorded by Hamas officials in Gaza, 16 of which were caused by an attack on a home in the southern city of Rafah, from which a large number of people fled.
Umm Walid al-Zamli said she lost her children and her house.
“The oldest was a second-grade girl,” she said in a choked voice. “What did they do wrong?”
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said the army is hitting Khan Yunis particularly hard to dismantle the Hamas leadership, which the military says has already been achieved in northern Gaza.
