Hamas attack of unprecedented scale against Israeli troops

The Israeli military said it killed 10 Hamas militants in Gaza on Wednesday while repelling an attack by the armed wing of the group, which claimed it killed several Israeli soldiers.

Israeli media reported that such an attack on troops inside the Gaza Strip was highly unusual since the start of the war, which began in October 2023.

"Today, at around 9 a.m., over 15 terrorists emerged out of several tunnel shafts adjacent to the 90th battalion post in southern Khan Yunis," the Israeli military said in a statement.

The militants "carried out a combined gunfire and anti-tank missile attack towards the post, with several terrorists infiltrating it and getting eliminated in face-to-face combat and aerial support strikes," it added.

"The troops, in coordination with the [Israeli air force], eliminated 10 terrorists during face-to-face combat and airstrikes," it said, adding that eight other militants fled back into the tunnel.

The military said that one soldier was severely injured and two others lightly injured in the assault, while Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that its fighters "this morning (...) carried out a raid on a newly established enemy position southeast of Khan Yunis."

"Our fighters stormed the site and targeted several guard tanks... our fighters also targeted several houses in which [Israeli] soldiers were fortified," it added.

"A number of our fighters stormed the houses and finished off several soldiers inside from point-blank range with light weapons and hand grenades," it said, claiming to have also killed a tank commander.

"As soon as the rescue forces arrived, one of the Qassam fighters detonated himself among the soldiers, leaving them dead and wounded," the statement added. 

It did not mention any casualties amongst its fighters.