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Hamas fighters killed eight Israeli troopers touring in navy automobiles in Rafah after firing rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) after which ambushing a supporting pressure deployed to the scene.
Saturday’s assaults marked one of many deadliest days for Israeli troopers in Gaza in months, as the bottom invasion of the southern area continues to accentuate.
Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, mentioned in a press release that its troopers “carried out a posh ambush in opposition to enemy automobiles” within the Saudi neighborhood of Tal as-Sultan, within the western metropolis of Rafah.
The armed group mentioned it fired Yassin-105 RPGs at a D9 navy bulldozer, killing and wounding an unknown variety of Israeli troopers. A “rescue pressure” automobile that arrived later was additionally attacked, “leading to its destruction and the loss of life of all occupants.”
The Israeli military mentioned in a press release that the eight troopers “fell throughout operational actions in southern Gaza,” with out elaborating. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s navy spokesman, mentioned an investigation can be launched into precisely how the assault passed off.
“We’re working to disarm all fighters to stop Hamas from focusing on civilians once more because it did on October 7. Right this moment we’ve obtained one other reminder of the excessive value we pay due to this conflict, and we’ve troopers able to sacrifice their actions. lives to defend Israel,” Hagari mentioned in a televised assertion.
At the very least 307 Israeli troops have been killed and hundreds injured since October 27, when the bottom invasion of Gaza started. At the very least 37,296 Palestinians – largely girls, kids and the aged – have died because the conflict started on October 7, Gaza’s well being ministry says.
Saturday’s casualties are prone to gasoline requires a ceasefire and enhance Israeli public anger. In January, 21 Israeli troops had been killed in a single assault by Palestinian fighters in central Gaza.
The assault on Rafah is increasing
Regardless of worldwide condemnation and disapproval, Israeli forces proceed to enter and encompass Rafah, the place no less than 19 Palestinians had been killed on Saturday. Lots of of hundreds of determined residents with out meals, water and medication are nonetheless trapped within the metropolis.
Air, naval and artillery assaults on the Tal as-Sultan space elevated after the lethal Hamas ambush.
Mohamad Elmasry, a professor on the Doha Institute for Graduate Research, mentioned Saturday’s assault reveals that Israel’s said conflict purpose of destroying Hamas stays elusive after eight months of combating.
“The Palestinian resistance fighters have put up a superb combat,” he informed Al Jazeera, pointing to a current information report that quoted US intelligence officers as saying that about 70 p.c of Hamas’s combating pressure stays intact.
“What’s even worse, from an Israeli perspective, is that Hamas has been in a position to recruit hundreds of recent members, so there isn’t any manpower drawback for Hamas.”
Gideon Levy, an writer and columnist on the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, mentioned the deaths of eight troopers are a “excessive value for Israeli society.”
“Increasingly folks in Israel are asking: for what and till when? This might turn into an limitless conflict – a conflict of attrition wherein irrespective of how robust the Israeli military is, Hamas forces can all the time kill and sabotage, and there will probably be quick retaliation. It leads nowhere. We’ll by no means obtain this ridiculous ‘complete victory’ that Prime Minister Netanyahu is speaking about,” Levy informed Al Jazeera.
Regardless of mounting worldwide strain for a ceasefire, an settlement to cease the combating nonetheless appears distant.
Since a week-long ceasefire in November that freed greater than 100 Israelis, repeated makes an attempt to rearrange a ceasefire have failed, with Hamas pushing for a everlasting finish to the conflict and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu refuses to finish the invasion till Hamas is “eradicated.”
It’s believed that greater than 100 prisoners stay in Gaza, though many are believed to be lifeless. The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, mentioned on Saturday that Israel can solely get its folks again if it ends the conflict and withdraws troops from the besieged enclave.
8 Israeli troopers killed in ambush in southern Gaza; deadliest day in months | Israeli-Palestinian Battle Information
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