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Battle of Shuja'iyya | |||||||
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Part of the siege of Gaza City during the Israel–Hamas war | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Israel | Hamas Palestinian Islamic Jihad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Yitzhak Ben-Bashat † Tomer Greenberg † [3] | Emad Abdullah Ali Qariqa † [4] [5] Wissam Farhat † | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
16 soldiers killed [6] [7] 1 Namer destroyed | Per Israel: [6] 935+ fighters killed | ||||||
3 Israeli civilians killed [8] |
The Battle of Shuja'iyya was a military engagement of the ongoing Israel-Hamas War between the Israeli Defense Forces of Israel and Hamas. The latter's allies, namely the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also took part in the fighting. During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Shuja'iyya was the last district in Gaza City that had not been subject to an Israeli ground invasion, and as a result many Palestinians who had not been able to evacuate south had sought refuge in the district. Despite this, the Israel Defense Forces had shelled and bombarded targets in Shuja'iyya for weeks before invading on December 4. On the 26th of December, Israel withdrew from Shuja'iyya, announcing that the local Hamas battalion had been defeated. Despite this, militants continued to attack Israeli forces within the town.
Shuja'iyya is one of the largest and most densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza, holding 92,000 people. [9] As a result of Israeli forces invading south Gaza city, many Palestinians had sought refuge in the neighbourhood, causing rising concerns of civilian casualties if Israel were to expand its invasion into the neighbourhood. [10]
On December 4, Israel launched an invasion of Shuja'iyya, advancing from the southern Gaza city after subjecting it to a massive bombardment campaign leaving most of the district in ruins. [11]
Palestinian militant groups led by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades confronted Israeli forces on the 6th of December. The paramilitaries took advantage of the environment created by Israeli bombardment and relied on dense buildings to weave throughout the district instead of relying on tunnels, setting the stage for a major urban battle.
During early confrontations, the Qassam Brigades attacked vehicles penetrating into Shuja'iyya, armed with AK-47 and Al-Yassin 105 tandem charge rockets. The packed buildings and tight streets allowed the brigades to approach vehicles at very close distances and fire in rapid succession before hopping between buildings for cover. Infamously, after an Achzarit was destroyed and ignited, a militant stood in front of it and took a selfie. [12]
As Israeli forces pushed into the district, reconnaissance published footage of Qassam Brigades militants using buildings as hideouts, including crawling on the floors to avoid detection. [13]
Qassam Brigades utilised dense urban landscape, allowing them in some instances to approach tanks and fire at them from mere metres away, as well as pelting Israeli forces with grenades thrown out of windows.
On December 13, the Qassam Brigades lured four soldiers into a coordinated ambush, and then launched successive attacks on Israeli forces sent to rescue those wounded, including collapsing the rigged building on top of them. The IDF admitted that 10 soldiers had been killed in the ambush, including two high-ranking officers. [14]
By December 21, Israeli forces claimed they had “operational control” of Shuja'iyya. [15]
Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants of the Al-Quds Brigades set up sniper posts on high-rise structures, jumping between the windows of multi-story high buildings to navigate positions throughout the district. The Qassam Brigades located several Israeli soldiers positioned in buildings and outposts and harassed them, eroding morale and security. [16] [17]
On December 26, Israeli forces had retreated from Shuja'iyya, following an incomplete operation that allowed the Palestinian militants to retain control of the town and launch attacks on Israeli soldiers from the area. [18]
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor assumes that Palestinian civilians were killed in the battle due to the extent of destruction and no retrieval of bodies.[ citation needed ]
Additionally, three Israeli hostages were mistakenly killed by the Israeli Defense Forces while holding a white cloth. [19]
Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, much of the district lay under rubble and basic infrastructure had been destroyed by Israeli bombardment. [10]
Israeli forces invaded Shuja'iyya again in June 2024, leading to a second battle which also ended in an Israeli withdrawal. [20]
This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2004.
This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2005.
Al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, is the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his presumed death on 13 July 2024, the Al-Qassam Brigades is the largest and best-equipped militia operating within the Gaza Strip in recent years.
Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat, or Mariam Farahat, more commonly known as Umm Nidal was a Palestinian activist popularly known by Palestinians as the "Mother of Martyrs" for her support for her sons' involvement in attacks against Israel. Three of her sons were members of Hamas who committed suicide bombings on Israeli civilians. She was a close associate of the Hamas leadership for over 2 decades. Farhat had strong militant credentials, including an appearance carrying a gun in a video in which she advised one of her sons, Mohammed, on tactics before he attacked a Jewish settlement. Mohammed, 17, killed five Israelis before he was shot dead in the assault in the occupied Gaza Strip in 2002. Farhat’s eldest son, Nidal, was killed in 2003 as he was preparing for another attack. A third son, Rawad, died earlier this year in an Israeli air strike on his car, which was carrying rockets. She also was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas. Farhat was one of the most prominent Islamist female leaders in Gaza and became an icon of the Second Intifada.
This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2007.
Shuja'iyya, also Shejaiya, Shijaiyeh, Shujayya, Shuja'ia, Shuja'iya, is the southern quarter of Old City of Gaza, and the only quarter of the Old City located outside the historical city walls. It is one of the largest neighborhoods in Gaza, once holding 92,000 to 100,000 residents. It is located east of Gaza's city center, and its nucleus is situated on a hill located across the main Salah al-Din Road that runs north–south throughout the Gaza Strip. Shuja'iyya contains several ancient structures, mosques and tombs. The Commonwealth War Cemetery is located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of the commercial center of the neighborhood.
The Battle of Shuja'iyya occurred between the Israel Defense Forces and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades on 20 July 2014 during 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip. Shuja'iyya, with 92,000 people in 6 sq-kilometres, is one of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, it had become a "terrorist fortress", that between 8 and 20 July had fired over 140 rockets into Israel after the outbreak of hostilities. Casualty figures are not known with precision, partly because bodies were recovered long after the fighting, and people had also died of injuries afterwards. The UN Protection Cluster states that between the 19-20th, 55 civilians, including 19 children and 14 women, were killed as a result of the IDF's actions. At the time, estimates varied from 66 to about 120 Palestinians killed, with a third of them women and children, and at least 288 wounded. The UN figures of Palestinian casualties are preliminary and subject to revision. 16 Israeli soldiers were killed.
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Israel–Hamas war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, it began bombing the Gaza Strip; on 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign has four stated goals: to destroy Hamas, to free the hostages, to ensure Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel, and to return displaced residents of Northern Israel. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli operation began, including more than 7,800 children and 4,900 women, with another 10,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. There are allegations that Israel has committed war crimes and genocide during the invasion.
The battle of Beit Hanoun began on 27 October 2023 in the midst of the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. On 18 December 2023, Israeli forces had prematurely signalled that they had full control over Beit Hanoun and had destroyed Hamas’ Beit Hanoun Battalion. However, clashes continued in the town. Israeli forces withdrew from the town on the 24th of December. Subsequently, some Palestinian militants infiltrated back into the town and conducted attacks against Israeli forces to the east.
The siege of Gaza City began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, there are about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, were trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.
Ahmed Abu Ghandour, also known as Abu Anas al-Ghandour, was a Palestinian senior militant in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. As commander of the Northern Gaza Brigade, he was a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades' General Military Council and was considered to be a close confidant of Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. In 2017, Ghandour was designated by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. In November 2023, he was killed by an Israeli airstrike amid the Israel–Hamas war.
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Wissam Abu Hussein Farhat was a Head of Hamas's Shejaiya Battalion. He was the mastermind behind various attacks such as the Atzmona Massacre, the Nahal Oz attack and more.
On 13 December 2023, during the wider Israeli invasion of Gaza, Hamas forces carried out an ambush at Shuja'iyya. The ambush resulted in the deaths of 10 Israeli soldiers. One of the dead soldiers was Colonel Yitzhak Ben-Bashat.
The insurgency in the North Gaza Strip is an armed conflict centered in the North Gaza Governorate, around the besieged Gaza City after Israel announced it had dismantled 12 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades battalions on 7 January.
The Second Battle of Shuja'iyya was a military battle between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian forces during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which ended in an Israeli withdrawal. Fought from 27 June 2024 to 10 July 2024, it was the second engagement between the two sides in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.
The Zana ambush, referred to as the Ambush of the Righteous by Hamas, was an ambush carried out on 6 April 2024 by the Qassam Brigades against Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel and vehicles in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, four Israeli soldiers were killed as well as a number of Qassam Brigades fighters from a second cell after the initial group of militants retreated.
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