The Israeli military said that early Friday morning, about 20 Hamas armed terrorists tried to attack other Gazans in the Israeli-designated "humanitarian zone" in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, but were eventually killed in a drone air strike.
Before the IDF confirmed the incident, the leader of a rival armed group in the Gaza Strip told the Times of Israel that his forces, with the assistance of the Israeli military, thwarted a Hamas attack in Khan Younis.
Hossam Astar, leader of an armed group in eastern Khan Younis, said that with air support from the Israel Defense Forces, the group foiled a Hamas attack on a family in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis early Friday morning-Hamas had a dispute with the family.
The Israeli military did not mention the armed group in a statement, but confirmed it had defeated a joint attack on the “Gaza people” in the region.
The Israeli Defense Army said several Hamas militants were seen trying to use Palestinian children as human shields after the drone airstrikes, and the military also released a video allegedly showing the militants dragging children.
The military added that a few minutes later, in another airstrike, these human shielded militants were killed and no civilians were injured. The attack killed about 20 Hamas militants.。
Ashtar said Hamas militants arrived at 6 a.m. and opened fire and fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at the area where members of the Majada family were located — the target of the terrorist group was the Majada family.
Ashtar said the Majada family had been fighting against Hamas for weeks and that Hamas militants had previously shot several members of the family in the legs for unknown reasons and claimed that the family had conspired with Israel to steal humanitarian supplies.
He said his own forces came to support the family and successfully hit the entire Hamas group with Israeli air support.
Ashtar said 11 Hamas militants were killed and six were seriously wounded, and that a member of the Hamas rebel family was also killed, while his own troops were not killed.
Social media accounts linked to Hamas also the attack, but claimed that despite the casualties of members of the Hamas armed branch, Hamas still killed several members of the Majada family — which Hamas accused of conspiring with Israel.
This is the first time that a Palestinian armed group has publicly thwarted a Hamas attack in Gaza, despite the operation being assisted by the Israel Defense Forces.
The Israeli military said on Friday that Hamas has repeatedly tried in recent weeks to prevent Palestinian civilians from entering the humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.
According to the latest IDF estimates, before the military's latest offensive against Hamas, there were about 1 million residents in Gaza City, and more than 870,000 people have been evacuated to the southern Gaza Strip.
UN: Israel's demarcated area in southern Gaza is a "land of death"
Meanwhile, the United Nations insisted on Friday that there is no safe place for the Palestinians required to evacuate from Gaza City, and that Israel’s humanitarian zone in the south of Gaza is a “death land.”
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Gaza City in recent weeks as the Israel Defense Forces launched a new offensive. The military urged them to move to a newly established humanitarian zone in Khan Younis in the south.
During the war, the Israel Defense Forces had designated multiple "humanitarian zones" in southern Gaza, to which most aid was delivered, and no ground military operations were carried out.
However, air strikes against Hamas targets were carried out in humanitarian areas, and the IDF said it would take additional precautions when attacking these areas to mitigate harm to civilians.
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