Israeli forces come under mortar fire amid withdrawal from Shujayea area: Monitors
Israeli forces continued to come under mortar and small arms fire on Wednesday from Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, despite Israel declaring that its operation against Palestinian armed resistance in the area had ended, war monitors report.
“Several Palestinian militias” also carried out attacks on Wednesday in the west and southwest of Gaza City using improvised explosive devices and small arms, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report in their latest battlefield assessment.
In Gaza’s southern Rafah city, where a weeks-long ground offensive continues, fighters with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades also fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, the US-based think tanks report.
Israeli military strikes Rafah position after rocket launch
The Israeli military has released aerial footage it says shows an air strike in the Rafah area of southern Gaza that it says killed Hamas fighters.
The Palestinians targeted carried out a rocket launch less than 30 minutes before being hit by both warplanes and artillery, it said. As we reported earlier, sirens sounded in Israel close to its boundary with Gaza. The military said five rockets were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defence system.
60 bodies recovered in Shujayea after Israeli ground assault
A spokesperson for the civil defence agency says more than 85 percent of the buildings in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood have become uninhabitable, making more than 120,000 residents now homeless.
“We recovered more than 60 martyrs [bodies] and there are dozens of martyrs under the rubble of homes in the Shujayea neighbourhood. We do not have an accurate number,” said the spokesperson, who wasn’t named.
“The occupation destroyed a medical clinic that provided health services to more than 60,000 Palestinians in Shujayea,” he added.
“Documented testimonies” have been taken that Israeli forces opened fire on residents in the neighbourhood despite being in designated evacuation routes.
Israeli forces are now invading Gaza City’s southern neighbourhood of Tal al-Hawa and “destroying all aspects of life.”
“Initial estimates indicate at least 50 people were killed in the Tal al-Hawa area by occupation fire. Our crews are unable to deal with multiple areas targeted at the same time.”
Israel has killed 38,345 Palestinians since October 7: Gaza health ministry
The health ministry in Gaza says Israel forces have killed at least 38,345 people since October 7. At least 50 were killed in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 88,295 people have been wounded since the start of the conflict.
