The Palestinian resistance group Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced Wednesday that they killed 12 Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
"In a complex operation in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Qassam fighters targeted an Israeli D9 military bulldozer with a Yassin 105 shell and targeted a Zionist (Israeli) force holed up inside a house with two anti-personnel shells and engaged with it," it said in a statement.
"As soon as a rescue force advanced to the location, an explosive device was detonated on a Merkava tank, and after attempting to retrieve the equipment of the targeted force thrown on the ground, the Israeli Air Force bombed the area ruthlessly, and our fighters confirmed the killing of at least 12 Israeli soldiers in the operation," it added.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army announced that it launched a widescale military operation in the heart of the Jabalia camp, coinciding with another operation continuing east of the city of Rafah in the southern Strip.
It said the operation in Jabalia witnessed "fierce battles," indicating that its forces "confronted dozens of armed cells," referring to Palestinian factions.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.
More than 35,230 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and over 79,140 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel is accused of "genocide" at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in the enclave.
