IOF admit two res. officers killed, Resistance tears through soldiers

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
19 Dec 2023 07:47

Israeli occupation forces have admitted to another two killed officers and two seriously injured soldiers in the elite 1st Golani Brigade.

A screengrab from footage released, on December 18, 2023, by al-Qassam Brigades' military media shows ten Israeli occupation soldiers taking cover behind a Merkava tank to the east of Gaza City, moments before being targeted by an al-Qassam fighter. (Al-Qassam Brigades/Military media)

Two more Israeli officers were killed in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli occupation forces' spokesperson on Tuesday morning.

Both officers are reservists, one of whom is a major seargent in the 551st Paratroopers Brigade's 6651st Battalion, while the other is the deputy platoon commander and a captain in the Yahalom unit, which is a special force of combat engineers, currently tasked with discovering and dismantling the Palestinian Resistance's tunnels.

Moreover, the spokesperson announced that two occupation soldiers from the 1st Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion were seriously wounded last night, as Resistance fighters confronted them in the southern Gaza Strip.

The occupation has so far admitted to 463 soldiers killed in and around the Gaza Strip, since October 7. This is by far the largest death toll the occupation has experienced in its aggression on Gaza even when discounting those killed on the initial day of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

Earlier, the occupation acknowledged that four officers were killed in the southern Gaza Strip, while another was seriously injured in the same area.

Soldiers from the Maglan unit, the Duvdevan Unit of the Commando Brigade, and the Yahalom unit were killed in confrontations.

Al-Qassam tears through occupation forces

Concurrently, Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades have published several video footage, showcasing the effectiveness of the operations against invading Israeli occupation forces. In one video, al-Qassam anti-armor units fired a Kornet Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) on a Humvey-type personnel carrier, completely destroying it and killing and injuring members of its crew.

كتائب القسّام تنشر مشهداً لاستهداف جيب صهيوني من نوع همر بصاروخ "كورنيت" مضاد للدروع شمال شرق بيت لاهيا#طوفان_الأقصى #فلسطين_المحتلة #غزة pic.twitter.com/d9bPIVaJ69
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) December 18, 2023

The ambush, which took place on December 19 in the northernmost part of the Gaza Strip, Beit Lahia, highlighted the Resistance's ability to effectively target the occupation's vehicles, in areas that have supposedly fallen under the control of the IOF.

Recently released footage also put to light an operation in which at least 10 Israeli occupation soldiers were targeted with an anti-personnel rocket-propelled grenade, by an al-Qassam fighter, to the east of Gaza City.

كتائب القسّام تنشر مشاهد من التحام مجاهديها مع آليات وجنود الاحتلال في محاور مدينة غزة.#الميادين #طوفان_الأقصى #فلسطين #غزة pic.twitter.com/BIsl6hIQj4
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) December 18, 2023

As for the operations spearheaded by the Yahalom unit, al-Qassam Brigades published on Monday a video in response to a "discovery" made by the Israeli occupation forces, which comprised of the latter finding a tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Brigades explained that the tunnel was dug up solely for the purpose of carrying out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, notifying the Israeli occupation forces that they were a little too late: "You arrive late... mission had already been completed," the video said in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

The IOF had on Sunday published footage showing Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant touring the tunnel and taking pictures at its entry in an apparent bid to celebrate a "military accomplishment" made by the Israeli occupation forces more than 70 days into the aggression on Gaza and some 50 days into their invasion of the blockaded strip.