The armed wing of Hamas said in a statement on Saturday that its combatants managed to lure Israeli forces from a combat engineering unit into a booby-trapped tunnel, killing some and wounding others.
The Qassam Brigades said the tunnel was located in the area of Israeli military sites east of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
According to Al Jazeera, the statement also said that Palestinian combatants engaged in “fierce clashes” with Israeli forces expanding a ground invasion in al-Jafarawi, also east of Deir el-Balah, inflicting casualties who were later evacuated by a military helicopter.
The Qassam Brigades said a Merkava tank was hit with a Yassin-105 shell in the area as well.
According to local Palestinian media, , the Israeli military "For the third time, IOF helicopters evacuated wounded soldiers from Gaza to Shaare Zedek Hospital."
Meanwhile, the Israeli forces claimed to have ‘dismantled’ a tunnel route in that area.
In its latest war update, the Israeli military claims that its soldiers from the Yahalom unit and the 82nd Battalion “located and dismantled” an underground tunnel route of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) that was approximately 500 metres (1,640 feet) long and located on the outskirts of Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera reported.
Later, media reported that the Israeli army had confirmed the death of three soldiers in besieged Gaza clashes.
MNA/6205952
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