Zeitoun operation
In late February, Israeli forces targeted the Zeitoun district in southwestern Gaza City with two brigades, announcing they were attacking paramilitaries in close quarters combat and with missile strikes.
The Israeli army acknowledged stiff resistance from paramilitaries in Zeitoun but not while Israeli vehicles advanced on the district, admitting casualties in three different engagements on penetrating forces on February 21. Fighting was mainly led by the Al-Qassam and Al-Quds Brigades, with minor support from smaller paramilitary groups. [24]
Siege of Beit Hanoun
In Beit Hanoun, the IDF conducted bombings on the night of 11–12 November 2024 and targeted fleeing civilians with drones and sniper fire the next day. [27] The IDF besieged some 130 families in a shelter in the city and forced them to leave at gunpoint. [28]
Despite claiming to have “dismantled Hamas” in Beit Hanoun, Israeli forces who entered the abandoned city on 23 December were immediately ambushed by militants. The IDF acknowledged and incident where a combat vehicle in Beit Hanoun was targeted by anti-tank weapons, eliminating three soldiers. [29]
On 28 December, Israeli forces previously in Rafah were redeployed to begin operating in Beit Hanoun. [30] [31] In another ambush whose details the IDF did not publicise, it acknowledged that three soldiers in Beit Hanoun were wounded and a West Bank settler in the IDF was eliminated. [32]
On 4 January 2025, the IDF destroyed a major Hamas complex in Beit Hanoun. [33]
An IDF company commander and his deputy were killed in Beit Hanoun after Hamas militants fired an anti-tank missile at their vehicle on 6 January, and a further three Israeli soldiers were killed when Hamas detonated an IED under their vehicle and three more were seriously wounded on the 8th. [34]
On 11 January, an Israeli patrol fell into an ambush in Beit Hanoun. A Merkava was hit by an IED explosion, killing all four of its occupants. The remaining soldiers were then attacked by Hamas militants who opened fire on them before withdrawing, wounding a further six. [35]
