Hamas, Islamic Jihad claim attacks on Israeli soldiers in Gaza

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Hamas's military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and the Islamic Jihad Movement's Saraya al-Quds said Friday that they targeted Israeli army vehicles and soldiers in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that its fighters targeted a group of Israel soldiers holed up inside a house in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital, west of Khan Yunis city, in southern Gaza, "with an anti-fortification TBG shell".

The attack caused "casualties among the Israeli group, including fatalities and injuries," it added, noting that it had observed "an Israeli helicopter landing to evacuate them."

The statement also said that the group "destroyed an Israeli Merkava 4 tank with an explosive device west of the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood" in southern Gaza City.

For its part, Saraya al-Quds said in a statement that it ambushed six Israeli soldiers, which resulted in their killings west of Khan Younis city.

There has been no comment by the Israeli army on the Palestinian resistance groups' statements as yet.

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army said one more soldier was killed and 16 others were injured in fighting with Palestinian groups in the southern Gaza Strip.

The latest fatality brought the death toll of Israeli soldiers since the start of the Israeli onslaught in Gaza on Oct. 7 to 598.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 75,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

In a Thursday order, the ICJ called on Israel to take measures “without delay” to ensure “the unhindered provision” of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. The world court said, “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in.”

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul