On Thursday, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that its fighters are engaged in “fierce close-range combat” with Israeli occupation forces advancing into eastern Rafah, in southern Gaza.
In a statement on Telegram, Al-Qassam said:“We are engaged in fierce, point-blank clashes with enemy soldiers and vehicles in the incursion zone in the Al-Juneina neighborhood, east of Rafah City.”
As of 14:40 GMT, the Israeli army had not commented on the announcement, and Al-Qassam had not released further details.
These clashes come amid continued Israeli ground offensives, as Hamas attempts to repel the invasion. Since October 7, 2023, Israel—with U.S. support—has waged a war in Gaza described by many as genocidal, resulting in more than 172,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them women and children, along with over 11,000 missing persons.