By Anadolu staff
JERUSALEM (AA) — The Israeli army announced Sunday evening the death of a brigade commander in the northern Gaza Strip, the of that rank since the ground offensive in Gaza began on Oct. 27 last year.
"The commander of the IDF (Israeli army) 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Ehsan Daqsa, was killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip earlier today," the military said in a statement.
"Daqsa's tank and another tank were hit by explosive devices during operations in Jabaliya," it added
This marks the first confirmed death of a brigade commander at the rank of colonel in the ongoing onslaught, which Palestinians describe as a genocidal war supported by the US.
With Daqsa, the death toll of the Israeli military since Oct. 7 rose to 749, with nearly 5,000 injured in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and northern Israel, according to army's figure.
Earlier, the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas, announced that a sniper targeted two Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in northern Gaza.
Al-Qassam fighters “successfully shot two Israeli soldiers with direct hits in Block 2 of the Jabalia refugee camp,” said the group.
It also said an Israeli Merkava tank was hit with a Yassin 105 missile and a Namer troop carrier with a Tandem missile west of Jabalia.
The group also stated that it “attacked two Israeli troop carriers with an explosive device and a Yassin 105 missile, causing casualties among the vehicle crews.”
The Israeli army has pressed ahead with a massive offensive, now in its 16th day, in northern Gaza amid a suffocating siege on the area.
The onslaught was the latest episode in Israel’s brutal onslaught that has killed more than 42,600 people, mostly women and children, and injured 99,800 others since last year following a Hamas attack.
The Israeli war has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala