Israel intensifies offensive in Gaza, strikes 120 sites: army

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army said on Monday that it has intensified its offensive from north to south in the Gaza Strip, targeting 120 sites in Rafah city, the neighborhoods of Jabaliya and Zeitoun in Gaza City.

Israel's armored 162 Division was fighting in eastern Rafah and on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, launching "attacks on Hamas targets," including rocket launchers, and killing "several" militants in face-to-face clashes, the army said in a statement.

The military said it was conducting "a limited" operation against militant infrastructure in Rafah, while the United Nations reported that over 300,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since the weekend as Israeli soldiers advanced further into the city.

Commando and infantry forces attacked Jabaliya from the ground as the Air Force carried out airstrikes. The troops were engaged in "close-range battles," the military said, adding that "many underground infrastructures and fighting spaces in the area were destroyed."

"In one of the attacks, a military building was destroyed where a group of Hamas terrorists gathered," stressed the statement, adding that ground and aerial attacks were carried out also in Zeitoun.

The military reported that a total of 11 soldiers have been injured in the Gaza Strip since Saturday. Among them, five soldiers and an additional civilian employee of the army sustained serious wounds, while the remaining suffered moderate injuries.

The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip climbed to 35,091, according to health authorities in Gaza, including 57 individuals killed by the Israeli army over the past day.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

An injured man is transferred after Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Rahman Salama/Xinhua)