Qassam Brigades trap, kill Israeli soldiers in booby-trapped Rafah home
The Hamas armed wing continues to carry out attacks on Israeli forces eight months after Israeli officials vowed to eradicate the resistance movement
The Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades, killed several Israeli soldiers and injured others in an ambush in Rafah in southern Gaza, a statement issued by the group on 10 June said.
The Qassam Brigades announced that “a number of Israeli soldiers were killed and injured as a result of its fighters detonating a booby-trapped house in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.”
The statement added that “the booby-trapped house contained a Zionist force in the Shaboura camp in the city of Rafah.”
“Immediately upon the arrival of the rescue force, our fighters destroyed the vicinity of the house that was blown up with mortar shells,” that statement said, noting that Qassam fighters “finished the enemy forces stationed south of the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood and the vicinity of the Kuwaiti Hospital, in the city of Rafah, with mortar shells.”
Al Jazeera reported that Israeli helicopters started to evacuate the injured to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
Within the operation, Israeli forces managed to throw smoke grenades in order to provide cover for evacuating soldiers.
After eight months of war and massive military support from the US and other western nations, the Israeli army has not been able to defeat Hamas. Israeli forces continue to be subjected to attacks by Qassam fighters in all areas of Gaza from the south to the north.
The Qassam Brigades' successful ambush on Monday follows Israel’s bloody massacre in the Nuseirat Camp on Saturday. The massacre was carried out as part of an operation to rescue four Israeli captives taken by Hamas on 7 October in exchange for Palestinian captives held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas announced that Israel also killed three Israeli captives during the raid, which involved heavy bombing of civilian areas.
According to the New York Times, 43 of the 253 captives held by Hamas have been killed. Released captives stated that their greatest fear was being killed by the relentless Israeli bombing that has killed over 37,000 people as part of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.