JERUSALEM: Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying tunnels and other infrastructure to crush small militant units that continued to shell troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since the start of their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, continuing amid mounting pressure to reach an agreement to end the fighting.
It said seven small units were hit in an airstrike while firing mortars at the troops. Further south in Rafah, four fighters were 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. No casualties were reported, Israel's emergency services said.
The ongoing fighting, more than nine months after Israel began its invasion of Gaza following the October 7 attack, underscores the difficulties faced by Israeli forces in eliminating militants who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.
A Telegram channel of the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in the Gaza Strip, said fighters had engaged in heavy fighting with Israeli troops using machine guns, grenade launchers and anti-tank weapons east of Khan Younis.
Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks east of Khan Younis.
US PRINT
Both US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential candidate, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
However, there are no clear signs of progress in talks to end the fighting and release the 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still held in Gaza. Public statements by Israel and Hamas seem to indicate that serious disagreements remain between the two sides.
Local residents contacted via a messenger app reported that Israeli tanks had advanced into three towns east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara, and blown up several houses in some residential areas.
The military said air force jets had hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets had been fired at Beersheba in southern Israel.
Although fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Israeli tanks in the northern part of the enclave entered the suburb of Tel Al-Hawa, west of Gaza city, residents said.
A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters attacked an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot dead an Israeli soldier.
Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza City.
According to local health authorities, which do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities estimate that around 14,000 fighters from militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed or captured. At the beginning of the war, the Israeli military force was estimated to have numbered over 25,000 men.
