TEHRAN – The Palestinian resistance continues its operations against the Israeli occupation’s infantry trying to invade Gaza City via the Zeitoun neighborhood.

Al-Qassam Brigades announced that its fighters struck an Israeli occupation Merkava tank and a D9 armored bulldozer using a Yassin-105 missile and a Shawaz explosive device.

The attacks took place on Street 8 in the southwestern part of the Zeitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City.

In a statement, Hamas’ armed wing confirmed the strike, stating that the attack took place during an attempted incursion by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) near Zeitoun.

In a separate statement, al-Qassam said their resistance fighters shelled a gathering of IOF soldiers and vehicles with multiple mortar rounds south of the Zeitoun area.

Israeli media reported that a soldier was injured after Palestinian resistance fighters fired an anti-tank missile at an IOF tank in Jabalia, northern Gaza, hitting the vehicle. According to al-Qassam, it destroyed a “Zionist troop carrier with a highly explosive landmine near al-Nazla, west of Jabalia, and monitored helicopter evacuation attempts.”

Meanwhile, al-Quds Brigades said it destroyed a Zionist military vehicle near al-Sabra clinic, al-Sabra neighborhood, south Gaza City. The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad also noted its resistance fighters had captured control of an IOF drone conducting intelligence in Khan Younis airspace.

Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades stated it launched a 60mm mortar barrage on the IOF near Hassan al-Banna Mosque in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza. 

Several days earlier, seven IOF soldiers were wounded when an explosive device detonated beneath a Namer armored personnel carrier in Zeitoun. 

The regime’s failure to occupy the Zeitoun neighborhood without sustaining casualties has triggered a wave of intense and deadly airstrikes across Gaza City. These strikes have targeted civilian areas and residential neighborhoods, resulting in massacres against Palestinian civilians, with dozens killed and scores more injured over the past 24 hours. Most of the victims have been women and children.

Israeli regime officials said Netanyahu’s security cabinet had convened to discuss the next stages of the planned offensive to seize Gaza City, which they described as Hamas' last bastion.

The same argument was used to justify the invasion of Rafah in February 2024, when Netanyahu told Western media that “the last Hamas battalion” was located in the southernmost city of the Palestinian territory.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the IOF’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir tried to persuade the regime’s security cabinet to cancel the decision to re-occupy Gaza City.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and key ministers insist on moving forward with the plan. Zamir reportedly believes the current conditions are ripe for a partial deal to secure the release of some Israeli captives.

Journalist Yoav Zitun, also writing for Yedioth Ahronoth, raised concerns about the delay in the Israeli response to a potential deal. He questioned whether the prolonged deployment of soldiers in Gaza is genuinely aimed at recovering captives or if it’s a political maneuver by Netanyahu and Minister Bezalel Smotrich to maintain access routes as a pretext for resettlement in Gaza.

Zitun further noted that the Israeli [occupation] army is now planning new routes in Gaza City for its next military maneuver. Officially, the goal is tactical, isolating Hamas brigades across neighborhoods, but given the ongoing political stagnation, some suspect these routes may later be used as bargaining chips or even to lay the groundwork for settlement expansion.

Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported that 60,000 IOF reservists will begin deployment, joining 70,000 others already mobilized. The original call-up order has been extended by an additional 40 days.

The IOF is attempting to re-enter Gaza City for the tenth time since the genocidal war began. In the previous operation, the occupying regime’s military suffered heavy losses with 100 dead soldiers and many others wounded.

According to military estimates, combat in Gaza City will be extremely complex. It is a densely populated urban area with an extensive underground network. Hamas has been preparing for months by planting explosives, fortifying buildings and tunnels, setting ambushes, and deploying snipers and anti-tank units.