The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, said its fighters destroyed an Israeli Merkava tank with a "Barq" side-mounted explosive device in the Abasan al-Kabira area east of Khan Yunis.
Earlier that day, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, reported carrying out an ambush that destroyed an Israeli armored personnel carrier with a Shawaaz explosive device planted inside the cockpit, completely destroying the vehicle and its crew.
The statement added that its fighters targeted another armored personnel carrier with an explosive device near the Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Ma'an area, south of Khan Yunis, after which Israeli helicopters were spotted landing to evacuate the site.
These operations come after the Israeli army announced the deaths of seven of its soldiers in clashes in Khan Yunis. The soldiers were members of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion, according to an official statement.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that initial investigations indicate that an explosive device planted by a Palestinian struck a Fume engineering personnel carrier, setting it on fire. Soldiers' attempts to extinguish the fire failed before a D9 bulldozer intervened, covering the vehicle with dirt and towing it from the field while it was still burning, with the soldiers inside.
In a separate incident, two soldiers from the same battalion were injured, one seriously, when an anti-tank missile hit a D9 bulldozer in Khan Yunis while carrying out a joint mission with the 51st Golani Brigade. According to Israeli data, the death toll among the occupation forces since the beginning of the war has risen to 879.
In a related development, the Qassam Brigades announced the destruction of an Israeli D9 military bulldozer with a Shawaaz explosive device, which caused it to burn for about an hour. The Brigades added that when another bulldozer attempted to advance in the rescue operation, it was targeted with a Yassin 105 missile in the al-Tawhid area of the town of Ma'an.
These developments come amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. According to Palestinian sources, these operations have resulted in the deaths and injuries of approximately 188,000 people, most of them women and children, in addition to thousands of missing persons, widespread destruction of infrastructure, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. These operations are also being accused by international organizations of committing grave violations, including ignoring orders from the International Court of Justice to halt military operations.
