JERUSALEM: Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure as they tried to quell small groups of militants who continued to shell troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed about 100 Palestinian militants since Israeli forces launched their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued amid mounting pressure to end the fighting.
It said seven small units firing mortars at the troops were downed by an airstrike, and further south in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in airstrikes.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. There were no casualties, the Israeli emergency service said.
The fighting, more than nine months since Israel's invasion of Gaza began after the October 7 attack, has highlighted the difficulty the IDF has faced in eliminating militants who have reverted to guerilla warfare in the ruined coastal strip.
A Telegram channel run by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters were fighting fiercely with Israeli forces east of Khan Yunis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.
Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.
US PRESSURE
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
However, there have been no clear signs of movement in talks to end the fighting and return home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza. Public statements by Israel and Hamas indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.
Local residents contacted via the messenger program said that Israeli tanks entered three towns east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al Zana and Al Qarari and blew up several houses in some residential areas.
The military said air force jets hit about 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired at Beersheba in southern Israel.
While fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks advanced into the Tel Al Hawa suburb west of Gaza City, residents said.
The Hamas Telegram channel reported that militants targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot dead an Israeli soldier.
Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an airstrike in a city in western Gaza.
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, which do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
According to Israeli officials, some 14,000 militant fighters, including those from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or captured from a force they estimated at more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
