250 “terror targets” attacked
Israel: Heaviest fighting since the start of the ground offensive
December 6th, 2023, 11:30 a.m
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The Gaza war reaches a new climax in Khan Yunis. The largest city in the south of the strip is witnessing the fiercest fighting since the ground offensive began. While the US worries about the further development of the conflict, the Israeli army continues the bombardment.
The Israeli army has continued its bombardment of targets in the Gaza Strip. Over the past day, around 250 “terrorist targets” were attacked, the army said. The troops are still in the process of locating weapons, tunnel shafts, explosives and other military infrastructure. A combat aircraft, in conjunction with ground troops, hit two rocket launchers from which terrorists fired a barrage of rockets into the center of Israel.
In further attacks, terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were eliminated and a number of terrorist infrastructures were destroyed, the army said. The troops also attacked a “terror cell” that was operating near a school in the northern Gaza Strip. A tunnel shaft was then blown up there. Weapons and ammunition were found in another school in the north.
According to its own statements, the Israeli military is engaged in the heaviest fighting with the radical Islamic Palestinian group Hamas since the beginning of its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. The military said the troops were engaged in fierce fighting in Khan Yunis. The largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip has been surrounded since Tuesday by Israeli soldiers who have already advanced into the center.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters were taking part in the fighting with Israeli troops. On Tuesday, 8 Israeli soldiers were killed or injured and 24 Israeli military vehicles were destroyed. On its website, the Israeli military reported two soldiers killed on Tuesday, bringing the total to 83 since the ground offensive began.
Israel is checking own attack on Lebanon
According to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a Lebanese soldier has been killed in the Gaza Strip for the first time since the start of the war. The UNIFIL statement also said that the Lebanese army was not involved in a conflict with Israel.
The Israeli army says it is investigating an attack by its troops on targets in southern Lebanon in which the Lebanese soldier was killed. “The Lebanese Armed Forces were not the target of the attack,” the Israeli army said. We regret the incident. The Lebanese army says its soldier was killed when Israel shelled one of its positions. Three other Lebanese soldiers were injured.
Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, which borders southern Israel, there have also been increased skirmishes between the Israeli military and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in the border area between northern Israel and southern Lebanon. The Shiite Hezbollah militia and the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip are allies and deny the Israeli state the right to exist. The war in the Gaza Strip, which has been going on for two months, therefore carries the risk that the conflict could spread.
Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians
The Gaza War was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other terrorist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed. Three weeks after the attack, Israel began its ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip and expanded it to the south a few days ago.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 16,200 people have now been killed in Gaza. This cannot currently be independently verified, but the UN and observers point out that the authority’s figures have proven to be overall credible in the past. Thousands of people are still missing and are believed to be buried under the rubble of countless destroyed houses. The situation of the civilian population in the densely populated Palestinian area is catastrophic.
As part of a week-long ceasefire that lasted until Friday, just over 100 hostages were released; 138 are still in the hands of radical groups. In return, Israel released about 240 Palestinian prisoners – women and minors – from its detention centers.