Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on April 19 that a soldier was killed and five others were wounded, including three seriously, in an attack carried out by the Hamas Movement in the northern Gaza Strip.
The slain soldier, a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, was the first to be killed in Gaza since the IDF resumed its offensive in the Strip on March 18.
The deadly attack took place as the 252nd Division was working to clear the area of Beit Hanoun from tunnels and other infrastructure of Hamas.
According to an initial IDF probe, a group of soldiers driving along an IDF logistics road, close to a military encampment inside Gaza, came under fire by Hamas fighters. The fighters came out of a tunnel shaft and launched a rocket-propelled grenade at the vehicle.
Three troops of the 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit were wounded in the attack. Two of them, an officer and a combat medic, are listed in serious condition.
A short while later, rescue forces form the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade reached the scene, along with trackers from the brigade. However, Hamas fighters set off an explosive device on the side of a road, near the rescue forces, killing the soldier and wounding two other trackers, including one seriously.
The IDF carried out a wave of strikes in the area, in an attempt to eliminate the fighters behind the attack, the military said, without elaborating on the results of the strikes.
Earlier in the day, the IDF announced that the Israeli Air Force struck 150 targets in Gaza, including cells of fighters and Hamas infrastructure, over the last 24 hours. The military said that in total more than 1,400 targets were hit since the offensive was renewed.
The 282nd Artillery Regiment also struck dozens of targets in recent weeks, in the Morag Corridor area between Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to the IDF, which said that the targets include weapon depots, rocket launching sites, and operatives.
Also in the last 24 hours, the IDF said that the 188th Armored Brigade, which is currently operating in the Morag Corridor, killed more than 40 fighters and destroyed numerous weapons, as well as a Hamas pickup truck.
In Rafah’s Shaboura camp, the Givati Brigade and the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit located and demolished a booby-trapped tunnel, according to the IDF, which noted that the tunnel was hundreds of meters long. The troops also located numerous other weapons in the area, the military added.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israeli strikes on Gaza claimed the lives of 92 Palestinains in the last 24 hours.
At least 1,783 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF renewed its operations in Gaza on March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that was brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar last January.
The deadly attack against the IDF in Beit Hanoun represents a turning point in the ongoing battle, as Hamas for the first time since March 18 has shown willingness to fight back. Still, this will not likely stop Israel from escalating even further in Gaza.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
so israel has better statistics than i thought.i thought the statistics were 5:1 for hamas, but it’s more much for hamas and that means hamas is dying like flies…
hamas has even worse kia statistics than the houthis.
when yoseph haddad fought on the side of israel against nasrallah, the statistics were more fair, 1:1.
i know that yoseph haddad is lying, that he fell into a coma himself because they gave him morphine and that’s called an artificial coma.
what are the official hamas and idf kia statistics?