Al-Qassam Brigades say they targeted Israeli tanks, troops in Gaza

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, said Thursday that they targeted seven Israeli tanks as well as Israeli forces during battles in the Gaza Strip.

They provided the news in a series of statements detailing skirmishes across the enclave.

The armed wing said they targeted three Merkava tanks in the Yibna refugee camp in the city of Rafah using Yassin 105 shells.

They also said they hit another Merkava tank near Dar al-Salam Mosque with Yassin 105 shells.

Additionally, they reported shelling Israeli forces advancing in Tal Za’arub with mortar shells.

Earlier in the day, the Brigades said they targeted a five-member Israeli foot patrol in Rafah with an anti-personnel explosive device, resulting in casualties.

They further reported targeting three soldiers with an anti-personnel shell near al-Shuka Municipality in Rafah.

In the same area, Islamic Jihad's military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, said they bombarded Israeli soldiers and vehicles in Yibna camp and around Tal Za’arub with mortar shells.

The Al-Qassam Brigades reported that they targeted a Merkava tank in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip with an explosive device.

They also said their fighters detonated a locally-manufactured Claymore mine near a group of soldiers in Beit Lahia positioned atop an Israeli tank, killing and injuring them.

Additionally, they targeted a Merkava tank near Sheikh Zayed Mosque with a Yassin 105 shell.

In the Jabalia refugee camp area in northern Gaza, the Brigades said their fighters targeted an Israeli force inside a house with a TBG shell, causing casualties.

On May 12, the Israeli military launched a wide-scale ground operation in the Jabalia refugee camp and surrounding areas.

The Israeli military said Thursday that three troops were killed and an officer and two soldiers were seriously wounded following an ambush by Palestinian resistance groups in Rafah.

The Israeli military has not commented so far on the attacks claimed by Al-Qassam and the Al-Quds Brigades.

According to the latest military figures, 642 soldiers have been killed and 3,657 others wounded since the war on Gaza erupted on Oct. 7 last year.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,240 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 81,777 others injured, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio