Hamas claims attack on Israeli tank in Gaza City

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Tuesday its fighters struck an Israeli Merkava tank in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the area.

In a brief statement, the group's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said the tank was targeted on Monday with two Yassin anti-tank shells near the Anbashi Hassan Mosque in southern Tel al-Hawa.

The reported attack coincided with an Israeli advance that saw armored vehicles move several hundred meters into the northern part of the neighborhood. Witnesses told Anadolu that the incursion began from the Dahdouh intersection on Street No. 8 and extended toward the University College compound.

They said the vehicles later stopped near the Anbashi Hassan Mosque and the headquarters of the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Ministry.

The Israeli army has been conducting a ground offensive in Gaza City since Aug. 11 under an operation it later named "Gideon's Chariots 2." The campaign has included demolishing homes with booby-trapped robots, artillery bombardment, indiscriminate fire, forced displacement and large-scale incursions.

On Aug. 8, the Israeli government approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for a gradual reoccupation of the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City, home to nearly 1 million Palestinians.

UN investigators recently concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where more than 65,300 people have been killed since October 2023.