Sources within the Israeli occupation army have acknowledged that resistance factions in the Gaza Strip have recently shown “greater boldness” in combat, as Israeli forces face mounting battlefield challenges.
Israel’s official broadcasting authority quoted unnamed military sources saying that “Palestinian fighters, who previously tended to stay hidden and in defensive positions, are now demonstrating a stronger will to attack army units — fully armed.”
The sources added:
“We are facing armed groups with machine guns, RPG launchers, and explosive devices. While their capabilities remain local, they know our troop locations in advance and move accordingly.”
A senior Israeli officer fighting inside Gaza pointed to “a clear shift in the combat pattern following last month’s battle involving Iran, especially on two fronts: Khan Younis in the south, and fighters in the north advancing towards Gaza City.”
In a related development, Israel’s Channel 13 reported Friday that Israeli Chief of Staff told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a cabinet meeting Thursday night that the army “cannot control two million Palestinians in Gaza.”
Separately, the Israeli army announced that one soldier was killed and four others were wounded — two critically — in clashes in southern Gaza, bringing the official death toll since dawn Friday to two.
According to an army statement, “Sergeant Asaf Zamir (19 years old), an armoured corps soldier in the 53rd Battalion of the 188th Barak Brigade, was killed in combat in southern Gaza,” while two soldiers from the same battalion sustained “serious injuries.”
Israel’s state broadcaster reported that “a fighter fired an anti-tank missile at a tank belonging to the 53rd Battalion of the 188th Brigade, killing Sergeant Zamir” in Khan Younis.
It added: “Other fighters then fired another round at troops who arrived at the scene, wounding four more soldiers, two of them critically.”
Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army had announced the killing of another soldier during fighting in northern Gaza.
According to the army’s own figures, 882 soldiers have been killed since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on 7 October 2023, including 438 killed in ground battles that began on 27 October.
The same figures show that 6,032 soldiers have been wounded since the war began, including 2,745 injured during ground operations in Gaza.
Since October 2023, the Israeli occupation, backed by the United States, has continued its genocide in Gaza — a campaign of killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement — in defiance of international appeals and orders by the International Court of Justice to stop the atrocities.
