Israel is ramping up attacks throughout the Gaza Strip, including near hospitals and in the south of the besieged enclave, where the ground operation is intensifying. The fighting is escalating in different districts, while the number of casualties continues to grow among both the military and the civilian population, with the number of the former being disproportionately higher.
The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement on Tuesday describing the results of the fighting in the area of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has reportedly completed the encirclement of Jabalia and advanced inside the district, destroying several Hamas strongholds and positions from which attacks were carried out on the Israeli troops. Israeli forces reportedly discovered weapons and launchers in civilian buildings.
The army press service claims that the Israeli military “conducted a targeted raid on the command post of the Hamas internal security forces in Jabalia, where they found surveillance equipment, weapons and maps.”
The Israeli military faces fierce resistance. On December 5, the IDF announced the deaths of five more soldiers during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Thus, the IDF’s losses in the Palestinian enclave have already amounted to 80 people.
In their turn, representatives of Hamas claim that the losses of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip are several times higher. On December 5, the military wing of Hamas , the Al-Qassam brigades, announced the killing of 10 Israeli soldiers in the town of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip alone. Earlier, they claimed to have hit over 10 units of Israeli military equipment in the southern city.
Clashes between the Palestinian resistance and invading Israeli forces resumed in Kahn Younis after heavy bombardement this morning:
Hamas released an impressive video of one of its reconnaissance units monitoring enemy forces from inside an Israeli camp in Gaza:
The press service of Hamas denied the official losses of the IDF. According to Hamas, since the beginning of the military operation in the Gaza Strip, the number of Israeli soldiers killed and wounded exceeded 2,200 people. However, any disputes about the number of enemy losses have long been a component of information warfare.
The IDF is clearly bogged down in hostilities. Since there are still Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, Palestinian militants continue shelling Israeli territory, tens of thousands of civilians were killed and wounded, the official goals of the Israeli military operations seem obscure.
On December 4, th enclave’s Ministry of Health said that 15,899 civilians have already been killed since the start of hostilities, most of them women and children. Meanwhile, the IDF spokesman acknowledged that the leaders of Hamas could have escaped from the Gaza Strip to Egypt through underground tunnels.