Hamas claims to be fighting the Israeli army in Gaza “heavily”
The military branch of Hamas said on Sunday that its fighters were involved in “heavy fighting” with Israeli troops in Gaza after the deployment of additional ground soldiers by the Israeli military across the Palestinian enclave.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades released a statement saying, “Our fighters are currently engaged in heavy fighting with machine guns and anti-tank weapons with the invading occupation (Israeli) forces in northwest Gaza.”
The organization had previously claimed—a claim the army has not corroborated—that two Israeli tanks had caught fire after being struck by its militants.
On Sunday night, Israeli soldiers continued in their bombardment of north Gaza with artillery and air strikes.
Near the Erez border crossing, the army said that forces had “identified several terrorists exiting the shaft of a tunnel” and had “confronted the terrorists, killing and injuring them.”
The army intensified its campaign against Hamas in the small coastal region earlier on Sunday, announcing that it has boosted the number of soldiers fighting inside the Gaza Strip.
Following the lethal strikes on Israel on October 7, Israeli armoured troops and infantry started conducting operations inside Gaza on Friday night, marking the start of what Defense Minister Yoav Gallant referred to as “a new phase” of the fight against Hamas.
Although there have been a few previous smaller-scale ground incursions by Israeli soldiers into Gaza, this one marks the length of their stay in the region since the most recent outburst of violence.
