Al-Qassam Brigades say they killed Israeli soldiers, destroyed military vehicles

By Iyad Nabolsi

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said Sunday that they killed and wounded Israeli soldiers, destroyed military vehicles in Jabalia and Rafah and struck the Israeli city of Sderot.

Al-Qassam said in a series of statements on Telegram that its fighters carried out joint operations with the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, in Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

They added that they managed to “engage with a special Zionist force entrenched behind the martyr Imad Akel Mosque, causing casualties among its members.”

They also said they succeeded in “targeting another force on al-Albani Street and managed to detonate a Merkava tank with an explosive device on al-Ajarma Street.”

Al-Qassam also broadcasted video clips showing the bombing of Sderot, the targeting of two tanks with Yassin 105 shells east of the Jabalia camp and the shelling of army gatherings north of the camp.

The clips also showed the sniping of an Israeli soldier in the Netzarim area south of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City.

Al-Qassam also reported that it attacked “enemy forces stationed inside the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip with mortar shells, targeting enemy soldiers and vehicles in the eastern city's advancement axes.”

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli army announced that one of its officers succumbed to wounds sustained in battles in northern Gaza last Wednesday.

According to Israeli military figures, at least 631 soldiers have been killed and 3,533 others injured in the Gaza conflict since Oct. 7 last year.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Over 35,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and more than 79,300 others injured since last October following an attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.