JERUSALEM: Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, destroying tunnels and other infrastructure as they tried to quell small militant units that continued to hit soldiers with mortar fire, the army said on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops launched their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, continuing as pressure mounted for a deal to end the fighting.
An airstrike hit seven small units firing mortars at soldiers, while further south in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in airstrikes.
Islamic Jihad's armed wing said it fired rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli cities near Gaza. No casualties were reported, Israel's emergency services said.
The ongoing fighting, more than nine months since Israel's invasion of Gaza began after the Oct. 7 attack, has underscored the difficulty the IDF has had in disposing of fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the rubble of the coastal strip.
A Telegram channel run by the armed elements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said the fighters were fighting fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.
Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the eastern part of 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 the proposed ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
But there have been no clear signs of movement in talks aimed at ending the fighting and bringing home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements by Israel and Hamas seem to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.
Local residents contacted by the messenger app said that Israeli tanks pushed into three towns east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara, blowing up several houses in some residential areas.
The military said the air force jets hit about 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired at Beersheba in southern Israel.
Even as fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks were pushing into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza City, residents said.
A Hamas telegram said the fighters attacked an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot dead an Israeli soldier.
Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an airstrike in western Gaza.
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 captured, out of a force they estimated at more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
