As Israeli tanks advanced into eastern Rafah, the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, reaching some residential areas yesterday, northern Gaza experienced some of the fiercest Israeli attacks in months. Violent clashes also erupted today, Wednesday, with Israeli forces in the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where buildings remained largely untouched by shelling, resembling a street war.
The Al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) announced yesterday that they had killed 7 Israeli soldiers east of the Jabalia camp, adding that they were able to target a Merkava tank with a "Yasin 105" missile in a "complex operation," causing casualties among its crew, and subsequently attacked 7 soldiers who were behind the targeted vehicle, killing them at point-blank range.
"Street War"
An Israeli reserve soldier from the 98th Commando Unit, which is currently fighting in Jabalia, confirmed that "Hamas is attacking more aggressively and firing more anti-tank weapons at soldiers who are taking refuge in homes and on Israeli military vehicles daily," indicating street war or guerrilla warfare, according to the "Wall Street Journal." Eyewitnesses reported that as the Israeli army moved tanks and troops into Rafah, which it described as the last stronghold of Hamas, the movement launched a series of hit-and-run attacks against Israeli forces in northern Gaza, turning previously relatively calm areas into battlefields after Israel announced yesterday that it had called in its tanks to support its operations against dozens of militants, striking more than 100 targets from the air, including one described as a Hamas war room in central Gaza.
“Clearing the North”
Israeli military officials had confirmed during the invasion of northern Gaza last year that they received orders to clear those areas of Hamas. However, Israel withdrew a significant portion of its forces from northern Gaza earlier this year as it shifted operations to central and southern Gaza, seemingly allowing Hamas to regroup in the north. Commenting on the resumption of fighting in the northern sector, an American defense official noted that "the renewed clashes show that the Israeli army has not done enough for the Palestinians living there, giving space for Hamas and other militants to return." Meanwhile, some Israeli security officials and analysts blamed Benjamin Netanyahu's government for failing to put a plan in place to establish authority to replace Hamas in the areas being "cleared."
It is worth noting that fierce battles have been ongoing since yesterday in the sprawling Jabalia refugee camp, established for displaced people 75 years ago in the northern sector. In the city of Gaza, to the north, paramedics reported that four people were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood late Tuesday evening. Additionally, in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Israeli bulldozers demolished several homes to create a new path for tanks to head toward the eastern suburbs.
