Hamas said late Wednesday its fighters were caught in intense battles against Israeli troops “on all axes of the incursion into the Gaza strip.”
Invading Hamas defences of Gaza’s second largest city, Israeli troops, armoured tanks, personnel carriers, and bulldozers broke into Khan Yunis, forcing the already displaced residents to flee again, according to witnesses.
Earlier, the Israeli army claimed to have breached defensive lines and conducted “targeted raids in the heart of the city,” discovering and destroying 30 subterranean shafts.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained in a video statement that Israeli forces were closing in on the home of Hamas’s chief in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar, with a spokesman stating it is “underground” in the Khan Yunis region.
Sinwar is suspected of being one of the orchestrators of the October 7 attacks on Isreal, which killed 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, according to Israeli authorities, and captured 240 hostages.
Following one of the bloodiest attacks in its history, Israel declared war on Hamas, threatening to eliminate the group and return all hostages.
Sinwar has not been seen in public during the war, and Israel has declared him and Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ armed wing, as major military targets.
However, humanitarian organisations have warned that the escalation of the conflict into the Gaza Strip’s south will leave inhabitants who evacuated the north, much of which has now been damaged, with nowhere to go.
“We are devastated, mentally overwhelmed,” said Amal Mahdi, a resident of Khan Yunis. “We need someone to find us a solution so we can get out of this situation.”
According to the latest Hamas government toll, the war has killed over 16,000 people in Gaza, the majority of them women and children.
