Hamas fighters killed eight Israeli troopers touring in navy autos in Rafah after firing rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) after which ambushing a assist pressure deployed to the scene.
The assaults on Saturday marked one of many deadliest days for Israeli troopers in Gaza in months as its floor invasion of the southern area continues to ramp up.
Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, mentioned in an announcement its troopers “carried out a complex ambush against enemy vehicles” within the Saudi neighbourhood of Tal as-Sultan district, western Rafah metropolis.
The armed group mentioned it fired Yassin-105 RPGs at a D9 navy bulldozer, killing and wounding an unidentified variety of Israeli troopers. A “rescue force” car that later arrived was additionally attacked, “resulting in its destruction and the death of all its occupants”.
Israel’s military mentioned in an announcement the eight troopers “fell during operational activity in southern Gaza”, with out elaborating. Daniel Hagari, Israeli’s navy spokesperson, mentioned an investigation will probably be launched into how precisely the assault occurred.
“We’re working to disarm all the fighters in order to prevent Hamas from targeting civilians again like on October 7. Today, we received another reminder of the high price we are paying because of this war, and we have soldiers ready to sacrifice their lives in order to defend Israel,” Hagari mentioned in a televised assertion.
A minimum of 307 Israeli troops have been killed and 1000’s wounded since October 27 when the bottom invasion of Gaza was launched. A minimum of 37,296 Palestinians – largely girls, kids, and aged – have died because the conflict started on October 7, Gaza’s well being ministry says.
Saturday’s casualties will possible gas requires a ceasefire and heighten Israeli public anger. In January, 21 Israeli troops have been killed in a single assault by Palestinian fighters in central Gaza.
Rafah assault expands
Regardless of worldwide condemnation and censure, Israeli forces proceed to push into and encompass Rafah the place at the least 19 Palestinians have been killed on Saturday. Tons of of 1000’s of determined civilians with out meals, water, and medication stay trapped within the metropolis.
Air, sea and artillery assaults on the Tal as-Sultan space intensified after the lethal Hamas ambush.
Mohamad Elmasry, a professor on the Doha Institute for Graduate Research, mentioned Saturday’s assault reveals Israel’s acknowledged conflict purpose of destroying Hamas stays elusive after eight months of fight.
“The Palestinian resistance fighters have put up quite a fight,” he advised Al Jazeera, noting a latest information report quoting US intelligence officers saying about 70 % of Hamas’s combating pressure stays intact.
“What’s even worse, from an Israeli perspective, is Hamas has been able to recruit thousands of new members so there’s no manpower issue for Hamas.”
Gideon Levy, an creator and columnist with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, mentioned the deaths of eight troopers is a “heavy price for Israeli society”.
“More and more people in Israel are asking what for and until when? This might become an endless war – a war of attrition in which as strong as Israel’s army is Hamas forces can always kill and sabotage, and then there will be direct retaliation. It leads nowhere. We’ll never achieve this ridiculous ‘total victory’ that Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks about,” Levy advised Al Jazeera.
Regardless of rising worldwide stress for a ceasefire, an settlement to halt the combating nonetheless seems distant.
Since a weeklong truce in November that freed greater than 100 Israelis, repeated makes an attempt to rearrange a ceasefire have failed with Hamas insisting on a everlasting finish to the conflict and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu refuses to finish the invasion earlier than Hamas is “eradicated”.
Greater than 100 captives are believed to stay in Gaza, although many are believed to be useless. The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, al-Quds Brigades, mentioned on Saturday Israel may solely regain its folks if it ends the conflict and pulls out troops from the besieged enclave.
