The Israeli army reported on Thursday (15.08.2024) that, in the last day, it has killed around twenty alleged fighters from the Palestinian militias of Gaza led by Hamas, in the city of Rafah, at the southern end of the Strip.
“In a combined ground and air activity in the Rafah area, Approximately 20 terrorists who posed a threat to the troops were identified and eliminated.who also dismantled a structure containing a tunnel,” said a military statement.
The Israeli army’s attacks on the Gaza Strip began following the terrorist attacks carried out on October 7, 2023 by the radical Islamist organization Hamas – considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, among others – in which Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapped 251. More than 110 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity.
In the area of Khan Yunis, also in the south and where The Israeli Army has ordered the evacuation of civilians this weekground troops and the air force also “eliminated several terrorists” operating inside an alleged Hamas weapons warehouse.
“In an additional attack, the Air Force eliminated a tactical-level Islamic Jihad terrorist responsible for firing projectiles toward Israeli troops and territory,” the Israeli military statement added.
Neighborhoods near Khan Yunis ordered to be evacuated
The Israeli army on Thursday ordered the evacuation of civilians from the Al Qarara and Al Satra neighborhoods on the outskirts of Khan Yunis, after several rockets were launched from that area yesterday, as part of the new Israeli ground offensive in the area, where it already operated intensively between December and April.
“In light of the continued rocket fire by Hamas and terrorist organizations from their areas, The Israel Defense Forces will act forcefully against these terrorist elements immediately.”, said the army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, in X.
In recent weeks, several neighbourhoods in Khan Yunis have been ordered to be evacuated, sending civilians to so-called “humanitarian zones” in Mawasi or Deir al Balah, where Gazans are crammed into the ground.
In the town of Bani Suhaila, in the Khan Yunis area, at least three Palestinians were killed during an incursion by Israeli troops, which also attacked the Maan neighborhood, according to Palestinian sources.
In the central area of the enclave, The troops “continue their operational activities”eliminating a “terrorist cell” and dismantling a weapons depot, while the air force destroyed more than 30 Hamas infrastructures, including explosives-laden structures, tunnels and weapons depots.
Bombings in Sabra district, according to Wafa agency
In addition, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported attacks in several neighborhoods of Gaza City, including an airstrike on a house in the Sabra neighborhood, where at least three people were killed, while artillery fired towards the Islamic compound in the neighborhood.
Israeli military armored vehicles also entered the Zaitun neighborhoodsouth of Gaza City, to occupy the Netzarim axis, a route that splits the enclave in half, north and south, and which Israel created at the beginning of the war to control population movements and the entry of troops.
In more than ten months of war, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 39,965, most of them children and women, while another 92,294 have been injured and more than 10,000 remain missing under the rubble, according to data from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Some reports about the war in the Gaza Strip cannot be independently verified.
Continue reading:
- Israel orders evacuation of “everyone in Gaza City” for the second time
- Israel ‘investigates’ attack on southern Gaza school that killed at least 25
- Israeli attack on refugee camp in Gaza leaves nearly 30 dead