The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported an increase in the number of Palestinian fatalities due to Israeli shelling to 21,672, with over 65,000 injuries since October 7. It noted that 165 Palestinians were killed and 250 injured due to Israeli bombardments in the past 24 hours. Palestinian media also reported casualties from Israeli bombing on a home in the Nusseirat and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza.
In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Israel carried out intense air and tank attacks in the mid and southern parts of the city. Palestinian media reported extensive Israeli artillery shelling east of the Rafah crossing and on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. In a development regarding the hostages taken during Hamas's raid on Gaza border settlements on October 7, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirmed on Saturday the death of an Israeli soldier during an Israeli airstrike after a failed rescue attempt.
On the Israeli side, the Israeli military acknowledged in a statement on Saturday that two of its soldiers were killed in clashes in Gaza. The army said its forces raided Hamas military headquarters in the heart of Khan Younis, including the operations room of the military intelligence apparatus responsible for all intelligence operations in the area, according to its statement.
According to the army, the military intelligence operations room is responsible for all intelligence operations of Hamas in the region, and highly valuable documents were found at the targeted sites. The Hamas complex also contained another operations room belonging to the Islamic Jihad movement. The statement added that the firepower system of the 98th division conducted about 50 airstrikes on various targets, including underground targets and infrastructure in preparation for a ground invasion of the area, in conjunction with the air force.
The Israeli army released a video claiming to show ground operations and airstrikes in Gaza as part of its ongoing war on the enclave for 85 days. Conversely, the Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, reported engaging in fierce clashes with Israeli soldiers in the advance axes north and east of Khan Younis. Meanwhile, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, stated that they targeted Israeli forces in the infiltration axes in the Gaza Strip with mortar shells.
The al-Qassam Brigades also claimed to have destroyed a troop carrier and a tank north of the al-Bureij camp in central Gaza. They reported that their fighters caused more than 20 Israeli soldiers to be killed or wounded during clashes with encroaching forces in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City and managed to explode an Israeli Merkava tank north of the al-Bureij camp, destroying an Israeli troop carrier with a (Yaseen 105) shell in the camp.
The brigades added that they also succeeded in detonating a house where several Israeli soldiers were fortified with explosives in Khan Younis in the southern sector, resulting in casualties among them. Saraya al-Quds spoke about fierce clashes being fought by its fighters in the advancing axes north and east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, later stating they targeted a troop carrier and two tanks with (Tandem) shells and "RPG" guns in the advance and al-Daraj axes in Gaza City.
