Jerusalem: Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in southern Gaza's Khan Younis and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure as they tried to suppress small militant units that continued to hit troops with mortar fire, it said on Friday army.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to end the fighting. .
Seven small units that had fired mortars at the troops were said to have been hit in an airstrike, while further south in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in airstrikes.
The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.
The ongoing fighting, more than nine months after Israel's invasion of Gaza began after the October 7 attack, has underscored the difficulties the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the the coast.
A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters engaged in heavy fighting with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.
Doctors said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in eastern Khan Younis.
US PRESSURE
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire as soon as possible.
However, there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas seem to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.
Local residents contacted by the messaging app said Israeli tanks pushed into three towns east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential neighborhoods.
The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were launched in Beersheba, southern Israel.
Even as fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the suburb of Tel Al-Hawa, west of Gaza City, residents said.
A Hamas Telegram channel said the fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.
Doctors said two Palestinians were also killed in an airstrike in western Gaza City.
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Israeli officials estimate that about 14,000 fighters from militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated at more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
