UPDATE – Hamas claims to have killed, injured several Israeli soldiers in Gaza attacks

UPDATES WITH ISRAELI ARMY STATEMENT

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian resistance group Hamas claimed Monday to have killed and injured several Israeli soldiers in two attacks in the southern Gaza Strip.

The group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said an explosive device was detonated at Israeli soldiers inside a building east of al-Farahin area in Khan Younis, leaving several dead and injured.

Hamas fighters also hit an Israeli military bulldozer with an anti-tank shell in the same area, the group said.

Two explosive devices also exploded at Israeli forces in Zalat, east of Rafah, killing and injuring several soldiers, it added.

The Israeli army, for its part, said that seven soldiers were injured in battles in the southern Gaza Strip.

Four of the soldiers were seriously wounded in a bomb explosion in southern Gaza, a military statement said.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last October by Hamas.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

Almost 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul