TEHRAN – The Israeli army has confirmed the deaths of four officers in battles in the Gaza Strip as the armed wing of Hamas issues a stern warning. 

Among the dead occupation troops are one major and three lieutenants. In addition, soldiers were injured during fighting with the Palestinian resistance forces. 

The al-Mujahideen Brigades have published footage that shows they had successfully targeted an Israeli Merkava tank in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, striking it directly.

Other footage published by the resistance faction shows the wreckage of an Israeli military vehicle that was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. 

The explosion caused substantial damage. Israeli military helicopters were deployed to evacuate the dead and wounded soldiers.

In response to the resistance operation, Israeli military censorship imposed a ban on publishing specific details, describing the situation only as “serious.”

Hebrew-language media reported heavily on the attack, describing it as a “catastrophe.” 

The IOF’s acknowledgment came after a delay, eventually confirming that the deaths occurred during battles in the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The ambush is said to have taken place in an area that had been deemed “secure” by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). 

Meanwhile, in the north of the Strip, Palestinian resistance fighters carried out a second operation that involved armed clashes and gunfire. Hebrew media reported casualties among the IOF in what was described as a well-planned ambush by Palestinian fighters.

The Palestinian resistance operations come amid growing Israeli concerns about the potential capture of IOF soldiers. As fighting intensifies within Gaza City, fears are rising that resistance forces may seek to kidnap IOF troops as leverage.

According to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the regime’s intelligence recently presented a classified briefing to the Knesset estimating that around 7,500 Palestinian fighters are currently stationed in and around Gaza City.

In the face of these developments, al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, issued a stern warning to the Israeli occupation regime. 

In a direct statement, al-Qassam warned the occupation regime’s political and military leadership that the invasion of Gaza City would lead to “a grueling war of attrition that will cost you additional numbers of dead and captives.”

They stressed that Israeli captives are being held in various neighborhoods across Gaza City and made it clear that their safety is no longer guaranteed.

“Your captives are distributed within Gaza’s neighborhoods, and we will not be careful for their lives as long as Netanyahu has decided to kill them.”

Al-Qassam stated that the “start and expansion of this criminal operation means you will receive no captives — neither alive nor dead — and their fate will be like (Ron Arad).”

The resistance movement added that “Gaza will not be an easy bite for your cowardly army. We do not fear you. We are prepared to send the souls of your soldiers to hell.”

The group revealed that it had prepared a force of fighters ready for martyrdom, along with thousands of explosive devices and ambushes. It vowed that Gaza would become a graveyard for IOF soldiers. 

“It is either victory or martyrdom,” the statement concluded.