TEHRAN - The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are struggling to get a grip on Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood as the Palestinian resistance forces continue to engage the invading troops in fierce clashes, killing at least four of them.

Nearly ten other Israeli soldiers have been injured in the neighborhood, east of Gaza City, as the violent exchange of fire is believed to have intensified. 

Shejaiya, along with the rest of northern Gaza, has proven difficult for the Israeli military to occupy. The IOF has repeatedly invaded the neighborhood over the past eight months. 

In all the invasions, the Palestinians have inflicted deadly blows on the occupation army, forcing them to withdraw. 

Over the past 48 hours, the Palestinian resistance forces have detonated more than 10 improvised explosive devices, including an unexploded Israeli bomb, managing to damage or destroy at least eight Israeli military vehicles while inflicting casualties among troops.   

With the exception of killing women and children while forcing thousands of others to flee amid this latest Israeli invasion, the IOF raids in Shejaiya with the aim of eliminating the Palestinian resistance have proven futile. 

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday that the intensity of the Israeli attacks had displaced at least 60,000 Palestinians from their homes in Gaza City on Thursday. 

Despite IOF soldiers and armored vehicles advancing deep into Shejaiya, the Hamas armed wing, the al-Qassam brigades, declared it was confronting the invading forces at point blank range resulting in casualties that have required helicopter evacuations. 

Hamas said its fighters targeted Israeli troops and armored vehicles with mortar shells on Baghdad Street, adding to the intensity of the clashes.

Meanwhile, the al-Quds brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), carried out a sophisticated operation, luring an Israeli unit into a booby-trapped tunnel within a building in the neighborhood. 

The al-Quds brigades said its engineers had successfully reactivated an unexploded F-16 missile and detonated the munition in a tunnel under the booby-trapped building, inflicting significant damage to the invading forces.

The PIJ armed wing launched mortar and anti-tank shell attacks on gatherings of IOF units in the neighborhood, further assisting the defensive efforts against the invaders.

Israeli media acknowledged the loss of four soldiers during combat and reported ongoing helicopter evacuations of the injured to hospitals, including Assuta, Soroka, Ichilov, and Hadassah, highlighting the severity of the confrontations.

The al-Quds brigades also extended their reach beyond Gaza, launching rocket barrages targeting the Sderot settlement and other settlements in the Gaza periphery, leading to reported injuries and widespread alarm.

Meanwhile, another armed Palestinian resistance faction, the al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades, announced their own operations, including the deployment of a vehicle-mounted explosive device that directly hit an Israeli tank and its crew.

The situation in Shejaiya reflects the complex and volatile environment that the IOF is facing across the Gaza Strip. 

Palestinian factions have demonstrated resilience and tactical flexibility in their efforts to defend the territory against the Israeli air and ground assault and maintain the complex war of attrition against occupation forces.