JAKARTA - Israeli forces stormed the main city of southern Gaza on Tuesday in what they call the day of the most intense fighting during the five weeks of ground operations against Hamas militants, while hospitals are struggling to deal with Palestinians killed and injured as a result of the attack.
In what appears to be the largest ground attack in Gaza since the ceasefire with Hamas ended last week, Israel said its troops, backed by warplanes, had reached the heart of Khan Younis and also surrounded the city.
"We are on the most intense day since the start of ground operations," the Commander of Israel's military Southern Command General Yaron Finkelman said in a statement.
He said Israeli forces were also fighting in Jabalia, a large urban refugee camp and a Hamas nest in northern Gaza next to Gaza City, and in Shuja'iyya, east of the city.
"We are in the heart of Jabalia, at the heart of Shuja'iyya, and now at the heart of Khan Younis," he said.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Hamas Brigade al Qassam said its fighters had destroyed or damaged 24 Israeli military vehicles and snipers had killed or injured eight Israeli soldiers in ongoing clashes in various Khan Younis regions.
Separately, Gaza health officials said many people were killed in Israeli attacks on houses in Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Younis. Dr. Eyad Al-Jabri, the head of Shoodada Al-Aqsa Hospital, told Reuters at least 45 people were killed.
Gaza's state media office on Tuesday announced that Palestinians' deaths from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip had jumped to 16,248 people, quoted from Anadolu.
"The victims included 7,112 children and 4,885 women, while more than 43,616 others were injured," the office said in a statement, adding that about 7,600 people had not been found.
On the other hand, the casualties on the part of Israel as a result of the Hamas attack on October 7 reached 1,200 people.
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Israel is known to have started its military campaign south of Gaza on Sunday, after the end of the ceasefire a week earlier with the militant group Hamas.
"Six decades after the war began, our troops are nowsiege the Khan Younis region," Israeli Chief of Staff Defense Forces said Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.
"We have secured many Hamas camps in the northern Gaza Strip, and now we are operating against the Hamas camp in the south," added Lt. Gen. Halevi.
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