On December 13, Hamas said the group carried out one of the deadliest attacks on Israeli soldiers since the conflict in the Gaza Strip began, killing at least 10 people.
The ambush occurred in the crowded Shijaiyah residential area in the northern Gaza Strip on December 13, when the Israeli army was searching a cluster of buildings and lost contact with the four soldiers who were attacked. As other soldiers attempted a rescue, the group was ambushed, and explosions and intense gunfire were heard.
According to the page allisraelnews, 10 soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) died in fierce fighting in Shejaiya City on December 13. Among the dead soldiers were a colonel commanding a forward base and a lieutenant colonel commanding a regiment.
This is considered the deadliest day for the Israeli army since 15 soldiers died on October 31.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that December 13 was a “very difficult day” but he rejected international calls for a ceasefire.
Despite increasing losses to ground forces in Gaza and international pressure, Prime Minister Netanyahu affirmed that the offensive campaign on Gaza will continue until the set goal of completely destroying Hamas is achieved.
According to the news agency APthe December 13 ambush by Hamas occurred after many recent statements by the Israeli military that they had broken the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza, surrounded the remaining Hamas members, and destroyed dozens of people. thousands of gunmen and arrested hundreds of others.
The ambush was a sign of Hamas’s unrelenting resistance despite more than two months of devastating bombardment.
Hamas’s resistance shows that Israel seems to be far from its goal of destroying this armed group.
As for Hamas, in a televised speech on December 13, the head of the Islamic movement Hamas, Mr. Ismail Haniyeh, affirmed that any arrangement in the Gaza Strip without Hamas is a “virtue”. thought”.
According to Gaza health officials, Israel’s air and ground attack claimed the lives of more than 18,600 Palestinians. Gaza City and surrounding towns were reduced to rubble. Nearly 1.9 million people had to leave their homes.
The US has repeatedly called on Israel to take stronger measures to support civilians, even as the US vetoed a document calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and quickly provided military aid to its close ally.
The Israeli army is still fighting fiercely with Hamas in and around Gaza City. Clashes occurred throughout the night and until December 13 in many areas, especially fierce fighting in Shijaiyah, a densely populated area that had violent clashes during the 2014 conflict between Israel and Israel. and Hamas.
Associated AP quoted Mustafa Abu Taha, a Palestinian worker living near Shijaiyah, as saying: “It’s scary. We can’t sleep. The situation is getting worse and we have nowhere safe to go.” “.
Meanwhile in southern Gaza, heavy rain overnight flooded the tents of evacuees. In the central city of Deir al-Balah, the storm brought cold winds and flooded the shelter area behind the hospital, causing water to flow between tents. “The situation is dire,” lamented Ibrahim Arafat, a father of 13 children who fled Shijaiyah.