By Ali Karbalaei 

Israeli army suffers heavy losses in Gaza 

January 21, 2024 - 11:57

TEHRAN- On January 7, the Israeli military announced that it had destroyed Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, withdrawing major infantry units and employing smaller elite forces. 

This has turned out to be another public disinformation campaign by the regime. All the indications are that the withdrawal was a result of the heavy casualties the Israeli army has suffered at the hands of the resistance forces. 

In another signal of its ongoing prowess, the Palestinian resistance has launched a missile salvo from the Gaza Strip as combatants confronted the invading Israeli army in the southern part of the enclave. 

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigade, has announced the bombing of the Sderot settlement as well as the settlements north of Gaza with a number of rocket barrages. 

Sirens have sounded in settlements surrounding the besieged Gaza territory. 

At the same time, the armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, announced that it had bombed the Kissufim military site with a salvo of missiles.

Settlers in Kiffusim and other areas in the Gaza envelope have been displaced from their settlements since the Israeli war on Gaza began on October 7 last year. 

Al-Qassam has published a series of videos showcasing its latest military operations against Israeli ground forces inside Gaza. 

The armed wing of Hamas said that it had targeted the regime's Merkava tank with 3 soldiers inside, using an Al-Yassin 105 missile.

In another statement, the al-Qassam Brigades said it had lured Israeli ground forces into a tunnel that was blown up in an area close to the Tuffah neighborhood near Gaza City in the northern part of the coastal enclave.  

In the Jabalia camp north of the Gaza Strip, fierce clashes broke out between the resistance forces and a unit of the regime's elite forces. 

Al-Qassam announced that it had targeted a "special Zionist unit holed up in a residential building, killing and wounding its members" with a TBG missile. 

Also, south of Gaza City, in the Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood, the Qassam Brigades targeted "a special Zionist force holed up inside a building" with a TGB missile with "an exchange of fire" ensuing with the force. 

The Israeli military has effectively withdrawn from northern Gaza, resorting to small elite forces backed by airstrikes after declaring its satisfaction that Hamas has been militarily destroyed. 

According to the armed wing of Hamas, its brigades have confronted a gathering of invading occupation forces with mortar shells, and "clashed with a Zionist ground force, consisting of 12 soldiers, and killed 4 of them from zero distance."

The operations of the Hamas forces suggest the al-Qassam Brigades are far from being diminished in the north. 

On Wednesday, the Israeli army published the names of four more soldiers killed by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. According to the Israeli military, another 17 have sustained injuries whilst fighting in the enclave, and many of them have been left in serious condition.

The regime claims nearly 200 of its troops have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military started its ground offensives in the enclave. 

Over the past week, Israeli media has contradicted the regime's official casualty numbers, indicating a much higher death toll and casualties, thousands of whom have been left disabled. 

In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, the al-Qassam targeted two occupation bulldozers with two anti-armor devices in an area on the outskirts of the city, and also targeted an Israeli troop carrier with an Al-Yassin 105 missile, in the same region. 

Earlier, the armed wing of Hamas announced that it had killed and wounded a force of 30 Israeli soldiers after luring them towards a house rigged with explosive devices in Bani Suhaila, two kilometers east of the city of Khan Younis.

Al-Qassam also targeted two of the regime's Merkava tanks and a military bulldozer with Al-Yassin 105 shells in Abasan al-Kabira, in southern Gaza and east of Khan Younis.

The attacks indicate the Israeli ground offensives in Khan Younis are being met with a strong Palestinian resistance similar to northern Gaza. 

Israeli military fires at hospital in Khan Younis

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent accused the Israeli military of firing at a hospital in Khan Younis. 

Nearby Israeli tanks fired shells at Gaza's biggest remaining functioning hospital, Nasser, where patients and Gazans seeking shelter reported the sounds of explosions. 

Inside the totally blockaded Gaza Strip, the Israeli regime has cut off almost all internet and communication services. 

For more than seven consecutive days now, almost total blackout marks the longest period of time that Gaza has been without internet and phone services since the regime waged war on the enclave. 

It has made it very difficult for aid workers to coordinate the little humanitarian supplies that are entering the Strip.

Paltel, Gaza's largest telecommunications firm, said the blackout was a result of the Israeli airstrikes raining down on Khan Younis and damaging vital communications infrastructure.
 

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