The army said in a statement that a platoon commander and an engineering corps soldier were seriously wounded by an explosive device in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Another soldier was seriously wounded during a battle in the central Gaza Strip, the army said, describing him as a cyber operations officer from the Golani Brigade.
The injured officer was transferred to the hospital for treatment, and his family has been notified, according to the statement. This came after the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that it had targeted a tank in the central Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Qassam Brigades announced via Telegram that it had targeted a Merkava tank with a "Yasin 105" missile southeast of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The Brigades also reported that an Israeli helicopter had landed at the site, indicating the evacuation of victims.
In a related development, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, announced that its fighters had lost contact since yesterday with a group securing a captured Israeli soldier, after the Israeli occupation army infiltrated and besieged the area, which it did not name.
The Al-Quds Brigades spokesman, Abu Hamza, said on Telegram that they had lost contact with the group securing the captive soldier, Rom Breslavsky, after the Israeli occupation forces infiltrated and besieged the area. He confirmed that they do not yet know the group's fate.
On Sunday, the Israeli occupation army warned Palestinians to evacuate sites in the southwestern area of Deir al-Balah, including displaced persons' tents. The following day, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in the area.
In recent weeks, Palestinian factions, most notably the Qassam Brigades, have increasingly announced operations documented with video and audio, killing and wounding Israeli soldiers during ground battles.
As of Tuesday evening, 894 Israeli soldiers had been killed and 6,112 wounded since the start of the war on Gaza, according to military data, which faces local accusations of concealing even greater losses.
With American support, Israel has been waging a genocidal war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the operation. The genocide has left more than 201,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that has claimed the lives of many.
