Al-Qassam announces targeting 5 vehicles in Rafah.. and the occupation faces a "difficult event" in Khan Yunis

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced on Monday that it had targeted five Israeli vehicles in Rafah, while the Israeli army expanded its incursion into Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip amid violent clashes with the Palestinian resistance.

In a statement via the Telegram application, the Qassam Brigades said that it targeted 3 Merkava tanks with 105 Al-Yassin shells, an armored personnel carrier, and a military bulldozer in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah.

The Qassam operations west of Rafah come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his forces to increase their military attacks in the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis to pressure Hamas to accept the new American proposal for a prisoner exchange deal.

In another context, Reuters quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the Israeli occupation forces that penetrated northern Khan Yunis today reached the coastal road, which practically cut off the road between the city and the areas to the north of it.

Witnesses added that they heard sounds indicating the outbreak of violent clashes between the resistance and the occupation forces.

In the same context, Al-Aqsa TV reported that the resistance is engaged in fierce clashes and confronting the occupation forces in Hamad City and its surroundings, northwest of Khan Yunis.

Palestinian and Israeli media reported that fierce battles were taking place in several areas of Khan Yunis Governorate.

"difficult event"

Israeli media reported that a "difficult event" occurred to army soldiers in Khan Yunis this morning, without further details.

Palestinian media outlets published footage of an Israeli helicopter carrying out an evacuation of wounded soldiers, as a result of violent battles in the residential city of Hamad.

The clashes took place in conjunction with intense Israeli artillery shelling of the residential city of Hamad and its surroundings, northwest of Khan Yunis.

In the past few days, the Israeli army has suffered casualties in battles with the Palestinian resistance on several fronts, including the southern neighborhoods of Gaza City and the central and southern parts of the Strip.

The occupation army recently issued warnings to residents of various areas in Khan Yunis to evacuate them in preparation for carrying out military operations there, which forced tens of thousands to flee.

In military developments, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said that today, in cooperation with the Al-Ansar Brigades, they bombed with mortar shells a position of occupation soldiers and their vehicles near the university college in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

Martyrs and massacres

Meanwhile, medical sources told Al Jazeera that 25 people were killed in ongoing Israeli shelling of the central and southern Gaza Strip since this morning.

In the latest developments, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that 6 people were killed and 15 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Austrian Towers area west of Khan Yunis. Palestinian sources said that the victims were at an internet distribution point.

Before that, an infant girl was killed and a number of displaced women were injured by the fire of the occupation forces in the Asdaa area, west of the city.

In the town of Abasan, east of Khan Yunis, at least 3 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house, and the airstrike caused injuries to others, including children, according to the correspondent.

In the Abu Holi area, south of Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip, 3 Palestinians were killed and others were injured in an Israeli raid that targeted a house.

A Palestinian was also killed and others were injured in an Israeli drone attack on a group of residents in the Umm Dhahir area of Deir al-Balah.

In Nuseirat, located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, the correspondent reported that 4 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombardment that targeted the area.

In Gaza City, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that 4 people were killed and others were injured as a result of Israeli shelling that targeted a civilian car in the Tuffah neighborhood, while Israeli artillery shelled buildings in the Sabra and Zeitoun neighborhoods, according to Al Aqsa TV.

The channel also reported that the occupation forces opened heavy fire near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, north of Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said this afternoon that the occupation committed 3 massacres during the past 24 hours, killing 40 martyrs and wounding 134.

The ministry added that the number of victims of the aggression has risen to 40,139 martyrs and 92,732 wounded since October 7.

Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies