Israel’s military, on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, bombarded southern Gaza’s main city in what it said was the heaviest fighting since it began a ground invasion to eliminate Hamas five weeks ago.

Israel said its forces, backed by warplanes, were engaged in fierce battles in Gaza on Wednesday, a day after the military reached the heart of Khan Younis and also surrounded the city.

Hamas’ armed wing, the al Qassam Brigades, said its fighters engaged in clashes with the military, which reported it had struck hundreds of targets in the enclave, including a militant cell near a school in the north.

The surge in combat comes after a truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed last week.

Hamas’ armed wing said it killed or wounded eight Israeli troops and destroyed 24 military vehicles on Tuesday. An Israeli military website listed two troop deaths for Tuesday and 83 since the ground operation began.

READ ALSO: Israeli strikes rock Gaza after truce collapse

Gaza health officials said many civilians were killed in an Israeli strike on houses in Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Younis.

The head of the Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Dr Eyad Al-Jabri, told Reuters at least 45 people were killed.

Hamas’ media office said on Tuesday at least 16,248 people including 7,112 children and 4,885 women had been killed in Gaza by Israel’s military since the conflict erupted on October 7. Thousands more are missing and feared buried under rubble.

Those figures were not immediately verified by the Gaza health ministry.

Israel unleashed its campaign in response to an attack by Hamas fighters who rampaged through Israeli towns, killing 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages, according to Israel’s tally.

Israeli police are investigating alleged sexual crimes during that killing spree and the justice ministry has said victims were tortured, abused, raped, burned alive, and dismembered.

The Star