The military spokesperson for the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Resistance movement, Abu Obeida, said, "Our complex operation today in Rafah was a new affirmation of the enemy's failure against our Resistance and a painful blow to its army."

In a written statement on Telegram, Abu Obeida declared that there was more to come from the Resistance. 

He further emphasized the continuity of "the heavy hits the enemy has to suffer anywhere he is," adding that there is "nothing but death traps on any patch of our land."

Israeli forces admit 11 soldiers killed in Gaza

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced on Saturday that 11 soldiers from the 601st Engineering Brigade and the 179th Brigade were killed, with two others wounded during confrontations with the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media reported a severe incident in central Gaza, where the IOF acknowledged the deaths of two additional soldiers from the 179th Brigade due to an improvised explosive device (IED), which also injured two more soldiers.

The IOF also confirmed the death of a soldier from the Givati Brigade. He succumbed to critical injuries sustained during fights in Rafah a few days prior.

Earlier, the IOF had reported the deaths of eight soldiers and officers caused by an explosive device that hit a Namer armored personnel carrier in the Tell al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Among the dead was the deputy commander of a company in the 601st Engineering Brigade.

Hamas adopts the operation 

Relating a slightly different course of events but with the same end result, the al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement in which it announced that on the morning of the day of Arafat Day, its freedom fighters carried out a complex ambush against Israeli vehicles penetrating the area of ​​the Saudi neighborhood in Tell al-Sultan, west of the city of Rafah.

The cab of a D9 military bulldozer, according to the Resistance group, was targeted by an al-Yassin 105 shell, causing it to catch fire and resulting in casualties among its crew.

Immediately upon the arrival of the rescue force, a Namer APC was targeted with an al-Yassin 105 shell, which led to its destruction and the killing of all its crew members.

However, according to Israeli media reports, the eight Israeli troops were burnt to death in the attack, which targeted a Namer-type APC in Rafah. Prior to al-Qassam's statement, it was reported that an unspecified anti-tank shell was fired at the APC, which led to an explosion and a fire in the vehicle, killing eight soldiers sleeping inside it. 

The corpses of the soldiers were completely burnt, and the APC was destroyed, it was claimed. Among those killed was a combat officer in the Israeli occupation forces, Israeli media outlets reported later on Saturday.