JERUSALEM: Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure in an effort to quell small units of militants who continued to target troops with mortar fire, the army said on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops have killed about 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops launched their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to end the fighting.
He said seven small units that were firing mortars at troops were hit by an airstrike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were killed in airstrikes.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.
The ongoing fighting, more than nine months after Israel began its invasion of Gaza following its October 7 attack, has highlighted the difficulties the IDF has faced in eliminating fighters who have reverted to guerrilla warfare amid the ruins of the coastal strip.
A Telegram channel run by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters fought fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis, using machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.
At least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in eastern Khan Younis, doctors say.
PRESSURE FROM THE UNITED STATES
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, have both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a proposed ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
However, there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still held in Gaza. Public statements by Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.
Local residents contacted via the messaging app said that Israeli tanks penetrated three towns east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara, and blew up several houses in some residential neighborhoods.
The military said the air force jets hit about 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired toward Beersheba in southern Israel.
As fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave Israeli tanks pushed as far as the suburb of Tel Al-Hawa, west of Gaza City, residents said.
A Hamas Telegram channel reported that fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.
Two more Palestinians were killed in an airstrike in the western Gaza city, doctors said.
According to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the clashes in Gaza.
Israeli officials estimate that about 14,000 fighters from militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed or taken prisoner, out of a force estimated at more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
