Yedioth Ahronoth: Al-Qassam fighters skillfully ambush our forces in Zeitoun neighborhood
Al-Khamisa News Network - Gaza
Yedioth Ahronoth revealed some details of the clashes and confrontations over recent days between resistance fighters and Israeli forces in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the southeast of Gaza City.
The paper said Hamas fighters targeted and wounded the deputy commander of a battalion in an Armored Brigade in Zeitoun a few days ago, and that al-Qassam Brigades personnel also attacked an Israeli force belonging to the Armored Brigade in the neighborhood, without disclosing casualties among that force.
It quoted military sources saying Hamas fighters in Zeitoun continually attack temporary positions of the Israeli military.
The sources said Israeli forces in Zeitoun were surprised by the skill of Hamas fighters in planting improvised explosive devices, which helped the success of their ongoing operations against the forces operating in the neighborhood.
The military sources quoted by the paper also spoke of Israeli soldiers discovering a tunnel running beneath their positions, saying Hamas fighters had succeeded in repairing and reactivating it in recent months, indicating the group’s ability to rebuild and restore part of its military capabilities despite intensive air strikes.
The sources quoted by the paper said the operation in Zeitoun could end within two weeks.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs published an article by Leila Stewart, a researcher at the Arab Center for Studies and Research in Paris and author of the book “Hamas’s Foreign Policy: Ideology, Decision-Making and Political Ascendancy,” saying the besieged movement in Gaza is drawing Israel deeper into a war it cannot win in Gaza.
Stewart wrote that since the start of 2025, Hamas fighters have stepped up offensive attacks on Israeli forces across the Strip, including a large-scale attack on an Israeli base on Aug. 20 and other operations in June and July that killed several Israeli soldiers.
She noted that at the same time they have increased coordination with other factions in Gaza and reinforced their ranks, even amid the widespread famine affecting the population, and that behind Hamas’s resilience is a change in its approach to the war that has raised the level of risk and could make Israel’s controversial new campaign to control Gaza City both a military and humanitarian catastrophe.
The article added that Hamas forces in Gaza have begun to change their tactics. For example, on April 20 a small group of fighters ambushed from a tunnel in Beit Hanoun — a “buffer zone” controlled by Israel — using rocket rounds and roadside bombs, overturned an Israeli military vehicle, killed one Israeli soldier and wounded several others. Since then, groups of fighters have stepped up similar operations across Gaza.
