Hamas claims to have killed, injured 16 Israeli soldiers in Gaza attacks

Palestinian group Hamas claimed Tuesday to have killed and injured 16 Israeli soldiers in attacks in Gaza City.

The group's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said it killed two soldiers at point-blank range in the Shejaiya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City.

Hamas fighters also targeted a 14-strong Israeli force inside a residential building in Shejaiya, leaving them between dead and injured, the group said.

The Palestinian group said that it had targeted three Israeli Merkava IV tanks and an armored personnel carrier with anti-tank shells in Shejaiya and Rafah in southern Gaza.

There has been no comment from the Israeli army on the claim.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 37,900 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and around 87,141 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.