Expanding its military attacks in the Jibaliya camp, Israel announced that 5 soldiers were killed by “friendly fire” and 7 were wounded. Hamas’ military wing, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, said it had killed 12 Israeli soldiers in the operation it organised in the camp.
According to the Times of Israel, 5 Israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire and 7 were wounded, 3 of them seriously, in the Jibaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, where the Israeli army said it had “expanded its ground offensive”.
The Israeli army’s preliminary report said that an Israeli tank, acting in conjunction with paratroopers, targeted a building housing the soldiers twice last night. It was stated that the tank unit arrived in the area before the paratroopers and deployed in the building in question after the paratroopers reached the area.
In the evening, it was stated that another paratrooper unit arrived in the area and informed 2 Israeli tanks that they had entered the same building.
It was stated that the tank unit opened fire twice on the building after detecting a gun barrel in one of the windows of the building in question.
In a written statement, the Israeli army identified the soldiers killed as Captain Roy Beit Yaakov (22), Sergeant Gilad Arye Boim (22), Sergeant Daniel Chemu (20), Sergeant Ilan Cohen (20) and Sergeant Betzlel David Shashuah (21) of the Paratroopers Brigade.
The Israeli army announced yesterday that it had expanded its military offensive in the Jibaliya camp, and eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers had forcibly evicted “hundreds of displaced Palestinians from their shelters west of Gaza City”.
Palestinian factions also engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli army, which stepped up its attacks.
Hamas announced that it had hit 12 Israeli army vehicles, including 7 tanks, 4 bulldozers and 1 unidentified military vehicle.
The Kassam Brigades’ statement said that the Israeli army’s D9 military bulldozer was targeted with a “Yassin-105” rocket, and that the Israeli forces hiding in a house were targeted with two anti-personnel rockets and clashed.Meanwhile, a Merkava tank was targeted with an explosive device as the rescue force was moving towards the scene, and at least 12 Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation.
More troops to Rafah
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the Israeli army has sent additional troops to the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where it is threatening to expand its ground offensive.
The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli army sent a commando unit overnight to join the 162nd Division stationed east of Rafah.
The article noted that an additional military unit had been sent to Rafah at a time when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government had approved the “expansion of Israel’s ground offensive” in Rafah.
In its statement on 6 May, the Israeli army demanded the evacuation of some neighbourhoods in the east of Rafah where displaced Palestinians had taken refuge, and on the morning of 7 May it announced that it had launched a ground offensive in the Rafah area of Gaza, capturing the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt.
