Israel: heaviest fighting since the start of the ground offensive
The Gaza war has reached a new climax in Chan Junis. The fiercest fighting since the start of the ground offensive is taking place in the largest city in the south of the Strip. While the USA worries about the further development of the conflict, the Israeli army continues its bombardment.
The Israeli army has continued its bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip. Over the past day, around 250 "terror targets" have been attacked, the army announced. The troops are continuing to locate weapons, tunnel shafts, explosives and other military infrastructure. A fighter plane, together with the ground forces, hit two rocket launching pads from which terrorists fired a barrage of rockets at the center of Israel.
In further attacks, terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were eliminated and a number of terrorist infrastructures were destroyed, the army explained. The troops also attacked a "terrorist cell" operating near a school in the northern Gaza Strip. A tunnel shaft was then blown up there. Weapons and ammunition were found in another school in the north.
According to its own statements, the Israeli military is engaged in the heaviest fighting with the radical Islamic Palestinian group Hamas since the beginning of its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. The troops are involved in fierce fighting in Chan Junis, the military announced. The largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip has been encircled by Israeli soldiers since Tuesday, who have already advanced into the center.
The Kassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, declared that its fighters were involved in the clashes with Israeli troops. On Tuesday, 8 Israeli soldiers were killed or injured and 24 Israeli military vehicles were destroyed. On its website, the Israeli military cited 2 soldiers killed on Tuesday, bringing the total since the start of the ground offensive to 83.
Israel considers its own attack on Lebanon
According to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a Lebanese soldier was killed for the first time since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip. The UNIFIL statement also states that the Lebanese army was not involved in a conflict with Israel.
According to its own statements, the Israeli army is investigating an attack by its troops on targets in southern Lebanon in which the Lebanese soldier was killed. "The Lebanese armed forces were not the target of the attack," explained the Israeli army. They regret the incident. According to the Lebanese army, their soldier was killed when Israel fired on one of their positions. Three other Lebanese soldiers were injured.
Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, which borders on southern Israel, there have also been increased skirmishes between the Israeli military and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in the border area between northern Israel and southern Lebanon. The Shiite Hezbollah militia and the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip are allied and deny the Israeli state the right to exist. This is why the war in the Gaza Strip, which has been going on for two months, also carries the risk that the conflict could escalate.
Atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by Hamas terrorists and other terrorist groups on October 7 in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1200 people were killed. Three weeks after the attack, Israel began its ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip and extended it to the south a few days ago.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 16,200 people have now been killed in Gaza. This cannot be independently verified at present, but the UN and observers point out that the authority's figures have proved to be generally credible in the past. Thousands of people are still missing and are presumably buried under the rubble of countless destroyed houses. The situation of the civilian population in the densely populated Palestinian area is catastrophic.
As part of a week-long ceasefire that lasted until Friday, just over 100 hostages were released, 138 are still in the hands of radical groups. In return, Israel released around 240 Palestinian prisoners - women and minors - from its detention centers.
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- The ongoing Israel war has also resulted in escalations along the border with Lebanon, as Israel's enemy, Hezbollah, is allied with Hamas in Gaza.
- The Israeli military has expressed concerns about the involvement of Hezbollah in the Gaza conflict, as they pose a significant threat to Israel's security.
- Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, causing destruction and loss of life in Israeli cities like Sderot and Ashkelon.
- In response, Israel has launched airstrikes on Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip, aiming to weaken their capabilities and deter further attacks.
Source: www.ntv.de