The people of Gaza and their resistance fought an unequal war and fiercely defended themselves against the brutal Israeli occupation for 32 weeks thus far, al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said Friday.

The spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing emphasized that over long days, nights, and weeks, "the enemy and its Nazi government practiced the most heinous crimes of extermination," while boasting of its crimes committed in Gaza as "military achievements" as they use terror and systematic criminality as a strategy in the aggression on Gaza." 

Abu Obeida vowed that the Israeli occupation would find the Resistance standing in its face every time it aspired to reach a goal or achievement and prevent it from achieving victory.

He explained that the Israeli occupation fell into a series of blunders upon deciding to start a ground offensive on Rafah, the Zaytoun neighborhood, and Jabalia, thinking that they had become easy targets.

The Israelis believed that if they spent seven months burning everything to the ground, they would face little Resistance, "but they were surprised to find that they were once again in hell, facing fiercer Resistance than before," Abu Obeida added.

"We salute our nation’s fighters who stood on the honorable side of history. We renew our blessing for the strikes launched by our brothers in the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon on the northern front. We salute the Brothers of Honesty, Ansar Allah in Yemen, and we salute our brothers in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq," Abo Obeida said.

The spokesperson reviewed the achievements of the resistance, which was able "in 10 days to destroy 100 Israeli military vehicles on several fronts in Gaza," in addition to inflicting human casualties that made the occupation lose dozens of soldiers. 

"The enemy is limiting the announcements of its losses," while the Resistance's data on the battles reveal that the casualties are "much larger" than what the Israeli occupation is revealing.

"Despite the war of starvation, destruction, and killing, our Resistance, and behind it our people, are coming out in front of the enemy from everywhere; our fighters are confronting the enemy with great momentum [...] blowing up buildings, tunnel openings, and minefields," he said.

"Our fighters face a trembling, floundering force, and return it broken and disappointed," while "the American weapons harnessed to exterminate our people cause enormous destruction, which is the only achievement of this crisis-stricken enemy."

In conclusion, Abu Obeida praised the resistance and the Palestinian people who, after 224 days, are still on their feet, fighting fiercely and standing unwaveringly in the face of "Israel".

Israeli forces facing demise in Gaza

Major General in the Israeli Reserve Army Yitzhak Brik on Thursday said that the current war unfolding in Gaza  is a "war of attrition" and warned that its prolongation "will lead to the collapse of the army and economy in Israel."

Speaking to Israeli broadcaster Channel 13, Brik said that "the Israeli army needs immediate rehabilitation" and there is an urgent need to increase the number of ground forces.

Brik acknowledged the army's failure in defeating the Resistance, noting that the Strip "represents one [front] out of six," and the war against it "does not involve launching thousands of rockets daily (as is the case of other war scenarios with other fronts, such as  Lebanon and Iran)."

Addressing the reasons that would lead to the collapse of "the army" and the Israeli economy in the event of the war's prolongation, Brik warned of "the absence of soldiers (to replace those currently on the ground), the absence of workers amid international isolation facing Israel."

Read more: 223 days of Israeli aggression: 35,272 killed, 79,205 injured in Gaza

Earlier on Thursday, Knesset member Amit Levy said that "all 24 Hamas brigades are present [in Gaza] and not a single one of them has been destroyed."

In addition to the Resistance's resilience, the Islamic Jihad movement remains present, "they lied to us that it had been eliminated," Levy told Channel 14.

These statements come amid increasing doubts about the objectives of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, as Israeli troops return to old battlefields in the Strip, according to Reuters.

In the eighth month of the war, the Israeli army returned to fighting in areas in the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli soldiers were among the dead and injured after the regime claimed that they had been "cleared."

According to Reuters, this points out growing questions about the regime's goal of eliminating Hamas and concerns over the absence of a clear post-war plan for Gaza.

The Israeli army announced Thursday that five Israeli troops from the 35th Paratroopers Brigade's 202nd Battalion were killed in Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, while another eight were wounded.

The troops, which include one officer, were killed after the Palestinian Resistance detonated explosives that were previously laid in a building in Jabalia. 

Israeli news website Ynet reported that fighters from the 82nd Armored Battalion spotted a gun barrel protruding from a building in the refugee camp and targeted the building with two shells. The website said that the crew of the Merkava tank had no knowledge of the fact that the building was appropriated by the 202nd Battalion and turned into a command post.

Hence, Israeli media outlets claim that the shelling of the building killed five troops and injured another three by friendly fire.