Fighting continuedon Saturday in the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, with further casualties being inflicted on Palestinian forces, according to the Israeli military.
Three Palestinians who had planted explosives near Israeli troops were killed in an airstrike, while soldiers killed “numerous armed terrorists at close range,” officials said.
In another incident in the city, seven people were reportedly attacked and killed after firing rocket-propelled grenades at the army.
According to eyewitnesses, thousands of people have fled Khan Younis in recent days due to the fierce fighting in the city, the largest in the south of Gaza and a reputed stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement.
Israel suspects the leadership of the militant organization and Israeli hostages to be concealed in the network of tunnels under the area.
Due to the high number of casualties and suffering among the civilian population in the Gaza fighting, the Israeli miitary is under mounting international pressure to ease its assault.
However, the Israeli government remains intent on destroying all Hamas elements in the coastal strip following the group’s bloody attack on Israel on October 7.
Hamas and allied extremist groups still fire occasional rockets at Israel, with alarms reportedly sounded at different locations in the south of the country on Saturday.
According to Israeli media reports, one missile landed outside the Israeli town of Sderot, near the Gaza Strip.