Fighters from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas armed wing, ambushed an armored Israeli army force that had crossed the border fence several meters into Gaza east of Khan Younis, the resistance group announced on 22 October.
The Qassam fighters destroyed two bulldozers and a tank in the engagement and forced the Israeli soldiers in the unit to withdraw by foot.
Israel military sources acknowledged that four Israeli soldiers were injured in the attack, one critically. Israel has been sending small military teams into Gaza as it masses forces for a full ground invasion.
The Qassam Brigades also launched a missile strike with dozens of missiles on the Netivot settlement near Gaza, in response to the “Zionist massacres against civilians,” the group announced.
At the same time, the Israeli military ramped up its airstrikes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Sunday to prepare conditions for an expected upcoming ground offensive aimed at toppling Hamas.
Israeli military sources claimed dozens of Hamas members were killed in overnight airstrikes in Gaza, including the deputy commander of Hamas’s rocket array, who is in charge of rocket fire on Israel.
The Israeli strikes killed 32 Palestinians in various areas of the Gaza Strip Sunday, according to the WAFA news agency.
WAFA’s Gaza correspondent reported that 16 Palestinians were killed following raids launched by the Israeli warplanes on two homes belonging to the Jaber and Abu al-Qumsan families in the northern Gaza Strip.
The dead and wounded were transferred to the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
In addition, fifteen Palestinians were killed, and others injured in airstrikes launched by Israeli warplanes on three homes in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The dead and wounded were transferred to the Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital.
WAFA correspondent reported that Palestinian journalist Rushdi al-Sarraj was also killed, and a number of his family members were injured, in an Israeli missile strike that targeted a house in Gaza City, and they were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital, west of the city.
The Israeli bombing campaign targeting civilians in Gaza continues for the 16th day in a row, targeting residential buildings, hospitals, UNRWA schools, and an ancient Christian church.
Israel has warned Palestinians in northern Gaza to move to the south of the besieged enclave ahead of its ground invasion, despite carrying out heavy strikes in both areas.
Israel has killed at least 4,741 people in Gaza, including over 1,700 children, since the start of the war sparked by Hamas’ October 7 surprise attack on Israel, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
During the attack, Hamas killed some 1,400 Israeli settlers and soldiers, and took over 200 captives, including civilians and soldiers, to exchange for the roughly 5,000 Palestinians in Israel prisons.