Hamas armed wing says it killed, wounded Israeli soldiers in complex ambush in Rafah

By Jomaa Younis and Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, said Thursday that a number of Israeli soldiers were killed and wounded in a "complex operation" it carried out several days ago in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in southern Gaza.

In a statement on Telegram, it said its fighters “on the afternoon of Friday, April 25, lured a Zionist armored force consisting of four Humvee jeeps and a military truck into a well-planned ambush near Tayaran Street in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah.”

It added that the fighters “targeted the military vehicles with several explosive devices…before advancing toward the remaining soldiers and engaging them at point-blank range, resulting in several deaths and injuries among the occupation forces.”

On April 26, the Israeli army announced that two officers had been killed in battles in Gaza, without providing details on the location or circumstances.

According to Israeli military data, since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Gaza war started, a total of 850 soldiers have been killed, including 410 since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza on Oct. 27, 2023. The figures include soldiers killed in Gaza, southern Lebanon and the West Bank.

Since March 2, Israel has closed Gaza's crossings, blocking essential supplies from entering the enclave despite multiple reports of famine in the war-devastated territory.

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.​​​​​​​

More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.