According to the statement issued by the brigades, a Qassam force consisting of an infantry section stormed the site and targeted several Merkava 4 tanks using Shawaz devices, acts of valor, and Yassin 105 shells. The statement added that the force also targeted several houses fortified by occupation soldiers with six anti-fortification and anti-personnel shells, alongside machine gun fire. The fighters stormed the houses and attacked ‘at point-blank range’ using light weapons and hand grenades.
The brigades also announced the ‘fatal injury’ of a tank commander and the destruction of surrounding sites with several mortar shells to hinder the arrival of reinforcements. The statement noted that the withdrawal of the fighters was secured after bombarding the site with mortar shells, mentioning that one martyr detonated himself upon the arrival of an Israeli rescue force, resulting in both deaths and injuries.
Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that the attack lasted several hours, and their members observed helicopters landing to evacuate the wounded, indicating casualties among Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Israeli army radio stated that the number of militants involved in the organized attack and attempted incursion into the fortification ranged between 14 and 15, emerging from a nearby tunnel opening.
It added that the militants reached very close to the fortification, almost to the entrance of the site, and faced the soldiers guarding the place at close range, leading to zero-distance firefights between the soldiers and militants. Estimates suggest that Hamas elements planned to infiltrate the site and capture soldiers. Earlier, the Israeli army reported that Mohammad Nayef Abu Shamaleh, the elite squad commander in the Palestinian Hamas movement and one of the participants in the October 7, 2023 attack, was killed.
