Israel moves in on north Gaza Hamas stronghold

FE Team | Published: May 16, 2024 22:38:40

GAZA, May 16 (Reuters/AFP): Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs from militants concentrated there, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing, Palestinian residents and militants said.
The slow progress of Israel's offensive, more than seven months after it was prompted by Hamas' deadly cross-border raid, highlighted the difficulty of achieving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aim of eradicating the militant group.
Armed wings of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have been able to fight up and down the Gaza Strip, using heavily fortified tunnels to stage attacks in both the north - the focus of Israel's initial invasion - and new battlegrounds like Rafah.
Five Israeli troops killed
by friendly fire in Gaza
Israel said Thursday that five of its troops were killed by friendly fire in a Gaza battle, as a rift emerged inside the war cabinet on how the Palestinian territory should be ruled in future.
More than seven months into the conflict sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack, Israeli forces were fighting Palestinian militants in Gaza's far-southern Rafah and in new flashpoints in northern and central areas of the besieged territory.
The army said that the five soldiers were killed when two Israeli tanks mistakenly fired shells at the building they were in during clashes in the northern Jabalia refuge camp on Wednesday.