The occupation forces withdrew from several neighborhoods in Absan, east of Gaza’s Khan Younis following fierce confrontations in the area on Tuesday. The withdrawal was accompanied by an escalation in the southeastern al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
The occupation forces acknowledged the death of a major in its ranks. The officer taken out by the resistance was a company commander in the Givati Brigade.
Zionist media quoted the spokesman for the Zionist Soroka Military Hospital as saying that during the past 24 hours, 11 wounded soldiers who fell during the battles in the Gaza Strip were airlifted to Soroka, 6 of whom were in serious condition.
The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, announced Tuesday that it was fiercely engaging the occupation forces at point-blank range in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
As part of the confrontations, the al-Qassam Brigades announced that its fighters destroyed an D9 armored bulldozer using the Yassin-105 anti-armor RPG east of al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
Al-Qassam’s fighters also destroyed an Merkava tank using the Yassin-105 RPG in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
The Resistance bombed an assembly point using high-caliber mortar shells, inflicting numerous casualties on the invading occupation soldiers.
The Palestinian fighters reported seeing Blackhawk and Yasur helicopters in the area, which indicates that the occupation forces were carrying out rescue operations for the soldiers hit by the Resistance’s barrage of mortar shells.
The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, reported that its forces destroyed an Israeli infantry fighting vehicle using a Thaqeb improvised explosive device (IED) east of al-Zaytoun neighborhoods.
Signficantly, al-Quds bombarded Asqalan, the “Zikim” Zionist military base, and neighboring residential settlements with a rocket attack, continuing attacks on Zionist occupied territory.
Zionist F-16 missile used against IOF
Momentously, the al-Quds Brigades utilized a Zionist-launched F-16 missile to bomb the Zionist own forces after the missile was unexploded and was found among the rubble in a civilian area.
The al-Quds Brigades managed to ensnare a large number of soldiers in a civilian home that had been booby-trapped with the unexploded Zionist missile, with its engineers working on activating the missile and using it to blow up the house with all the soldiers inside of it.
The al-Quds Brigades bombed several Zionist assembly points in Absan using mortar shells and engaged in urban combat with soldiers west of Khan Younis.
The PIJ’s military wing also used 60mm mortar shells to bombard the positions of Zionist soldiers east of the al-Zaytoun Neighborhood.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigaded, the military wing of the Fatah resistance movement announced that its forces used an Asef IED to blow up an advancing military vehicle to disable it before using an RPG to destroy it.
Meanwhile, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades bombarded an occupation assembly point and other vehicles in the advancement axis near the State Intersection south of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City with a barrage of 60mm mortar shells.
Palestinian Resistance pushing back
The artillery units of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) used tactical rockets against the invading occupation forces in eastern Gaza while engaging the combat axis in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood with mortar shells.
Its combat units, in cooperation with the al-Qassam Brigades, engaged in intense clashes with enemy forces in the al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Younis.
The Mujahideen Brigades, the military wing of the popular resistance committees announced targeting an Israeli vehicle with an anti-tank shell in the al-Zaytoun advancement axis in Gaza City, in addition to destroying a tank of a Merkava 4 type tank by targeting it with a tandem shell in the southern al-Zaytoun axis.
The Mujahideen Brigades also announced that they targeted the settlement of “Ra’im” with a barrage of rockets.
A source in the Palestinian Resistance from the al-Zaytoun neighborhood said that the occupation forces failed for the ninth day in a row to advance in the area as they continue to be fiercely confronted by the Palestinian Resistance.
Advances came to a grinding halt
The past few weeks saw heavy confrontations between Palestinian Resistance fighters and occupation forces in central and southern Gaza, with one of the most violent being in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, as occupation forces continue to attempt to break the Resistance in regions earlier claimed to be “under control.”
Resistance fighters are “closer to the enemy that it fathoms, monitoring its movements and targeting them with appropriate weapons,” one fighter stated.
Shedding light on the Zionist failure to gain control of the neighborhood, the fighter pointed out that the occupation has so far leveled dozens of buildings and houses using all types of weapons, but is still unable to establish control.
On that note, the source revealed that Resistance fighters have destroyed over 20 military vehicles in the past nine days, and conducted dozens of ambushes, sniper operations, and rocket launches at military gatherings and command centers.
Resistance in al-Zaytoun continues
Palestinian Resistance groups announced on Monday a series of operations carried out in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades said it had shelled a gathering of occupation forces advancing south of the neighborhood with heavy-caliber mortar shells.
Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced targeting two military vehicles with RPG shells near the al-Dawlah Intersection in al-Zaytoun, and another operation striking a gathering of enemy soldiers and vehicles with a barrage of mortar shells.
Reporting the latest numbers last Sunday, the occupation forces admitted that 580 of their soldiers and officers have been killed since October 7, while 240 have been killed since the Zionist military invaded the Gaza Strip in late October 2023. It must be noted that these numbers are from the occupation and highly inaccurate.
Hezbollah targets air control base again
Hezbollah fired early on Tuesday a huge salvo of missiles, targeting the Meron air control base, in retaliation for the Zionist aggression on Bekaa a day earlier.
In a statement, Hezbollah’s Military Media Center announced that “the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, the Meron air control base on Mount Al-Jarmaq with a large missile barrage from multiple launchers.,” referring to the Arabic name of the mountain, known in the Zionist entity as Mount Meron.
The statement read that the Tuesday’s strike was “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in solidarity with their brave and honorable resistance, and in response to the Zionist aggression on the outskirts of the city of Baalbeck in the Bekaa.”
Activists on social media shared videos showing smoke rising of Meron base.
Zionist media quoted the occupation army as saying that dozens of rockets have been fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee.
Sirens sounded in the communities of Zivon, Sassa, Safsufa, and Dovev.
The sensitive air traffic control base in Meron has been targeted by Hezbollah several times amid the ongoing war.
More strikes
Later on Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more strikes against occupation sites along the border between Lebanon and the occupied territories.
At 11:35, “the Islamic resistance fighters targeted Ruwaisat Al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with appropriate weapons, resulting in direct hits,” a statement by Hezbollah’s Military Media Center read.
Simultaneously (at 11:35), the “Islamic Resistance fighters targeted spy equipment at Al-Ramtha site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with appropriate weapons, causing direct hits,” according to another statement.
The fourth strike on Tuesday saw direct hits among enemy forces after Islamic Resistance fighters targeted their gathering in Al-Tayhat Hill at 13:30.
A fifth statement issued by Hezbollah military media indicated that the Islamic resistance fighters targeted at 03:18 pm on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, Al-Marj site with missile weapons, causing direct hits.
“In response to the “Israeli” attacks on villages and southern areas, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, for the second time, Meron Base for control, command, and aerial surveillance at 15:45 pm on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, with a barrage of anti-armor missiles. This led to the damage and complete destruction of a portion of its technical and espionage equipment and facilities,” the sixth statement issued by Hezbollah military media maintained.
“In response to “Israeli” attacks on villages and southern areas, the Islamic resistance fighters targeted at 4:45 pm on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the Command Headquarters of Division 146 in Ga’aton with tens of Katyusha rockets, causing direct hits,” Hezbollah military media’s seventh statement affirmed.
sources: Al Manar, Al Mayadeen, Resistance News Network