A new video released by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on the evening of Wednesday, June 26, 2024, showed its fighters digging a tunnel during ongoing clashes in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
According to Al-Qassam’s publication, the fighters used explosive devices they had seized from the Israeli army.
The video also depicted clashes with Israeli forces, which Al-Qassam said took place on the Sea Street in the southern Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli military data, the toll of its soldiers killed in Gaza reached 665 soldiers and officers since the beginning of the war on October 7. Among them, 313 were killed since the start of the ground war that erupted on October 27.
The Israeli army faces local accusations of concealing a larger casualty toll, both killed and wounded.
On October 7, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, launched an attack on military positions and settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of about 1,200 Israelis, with approximately 5,431 injured and at least 239 captured by the movement. Dozens of them were exchanged with Israel during a temporary ceasefire that lasted a week until early December last year.
Since then, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip with unconditional American support, resulting in over 123,000 Palestinians killed or injured, which has isolated Tel Aviv internationally and led to its prosecution before the International Court of Justice.
Israel continues its war despite two resolutions from the UN Security Council calling for an immediate cessation, and orders from the International Court of Justice to end the invasion of Rafah, take measures to prevent “genocide,” and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israel also defies the request of the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants against its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant for their responsibility in “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”
