Israel faces resistance from armed factions in Gaza city
The Israeli army is hunting explosives and dismantling what it says is 'terrorist infrastructure' in the Al Zeitoun area of Gaza city. Residents say an air assault has already flattened the neighbourhood, in what they fear is the first stage of Israel's plan to capture the city.
Several armed factions have claimed attacks on Israeli troops in the area. The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said they fired a shell at a Merkava main battle tank in Al Zeitoun.
On Friday the Al Nasser Salah Al Din Brigades – a coalition of militants who took part in the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023 – said they 'bombed a gathering' of Israeli troops and vehicles in the area. Statements from the groups were carried by friendly media outlets.
The Israeli army said it came under fire from an anti-tank missile, with no injuries reported. 'The troops swiftly located and eliminated the terrorists,' it said on Friday, without specifying when that incident took place. As part of their operations in Al Zeitoun, Israeli troops 'struck and dismantled a booby-trapped structure that stored weapons', the military said.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans last week to capture the Gaza city as a first step towards taking control of the whole territory. The move has been widely condemned amid fears the dire conditions in the strip will worsen further.
Gaza health officials raised the war's death toll to 61,827 on Friday, after 51 bodies were brought to hospitals in the previous 24 hours. They said one child died of malnutrition in the same period.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said six people were killed while waiting to receive aid. The UN human rights office said on Friday that at least 1,760 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May, a jump of several hundred since its last published figure in early August. Israel denies a campaign to kill civilians, saying the starvation and chaos at food banks are the fault of Hamas and UN aid workers.
'All of this could have been prevented easily if [aid agency] UNRWA and other humanitarian organisations were allowed to bring in the minimum every day, and that is 500 to 600 trucks of basics,' said UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma. 'We're not asking for the moon here.'
Gaza's civil defence agency says Israeli forces have destroyed more than 300 homes in Al Zeitoun neighbourhood in just three days. According to journalist Bilal Al Nabih, the Israeli army has attacked the area at least five times since the war escalated in March, but the current operation is by far the most destructive.
Israel's army chief Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said on Thursday that the military was 'completing preparations' for the new offensive in Gaza. 'The campaign will end when we have ensured our security and our future,' he said.
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