Deadly ambush by Palestinian Resistance in Gaza; Israel in shock over disappearance of 4 soldiers

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), released a statement on its Telegram channel detailing today’s pre-dawn operation, which resulted in the killing, injury, and disappearance of several Israeli soldiers.

According to the statement, the occupation army was targeted in four separate “security incidents” in Khan Younis, the Al-Sabra neighborhood, and twice in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood. The attacks left one soldier dead, 11 others wounded, and four missing—who are believed to have been captured by resistance forces. Due to Israeli media censorship, no official information about their fate has been released.

Israeli media typically refer to Palestinian resistance operations against its soldiers as “security incidents.” Hebrew sources reported that a large number of Al-Qassam fighters participated in the Al-Zaytoun ambushes, and Israeli helicopters sent to evacuate the wounded came under heavy fire from the resistance.

Initially, Hebrew media reported that in a major ambush in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, several Israeli soldiers were killed and others critically wounded. Six helicopters were dispatched to evacuate the injured soldiers, who belonged to the 162nd Division and the 401st Brigade.

The reports further confirmed that the Israeli army invoked the Hannibal Directive—a military protocol aimed at preventing soldiers from being captured, even if it requires killing them—in an attempt to block Hamas from taking prisoners. This directive has been in place since 1986, after several Israeli soldiers were captured by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to these accounts, Al-Qassam fighters engaged Israeli troops at point-blank range, repeating the ambush several times. While Israeli media remain under heavy military censorship and cannot report precise casualty figures, Hebrew-language outlets indicated that at least four soldiers went missing. The Israeli army has since been heavily bombing the area where the soldiers disappeared—suggesting the application of the Hannibal Directive to kill troops at risk of capture.

Israeli media reported that a large-scale operation is underway to locate the four missing soldiers. Since the war began on October 7, 2023, this has been described as the harshest incident for the Israeli army in Gaza. Hamas fighters have reportedly been using mortar fire to disrupt Israel’s search efforts.

By early morning, renewed clashes erupted between Al-Qassam fighters and Israeli forces in Al-Zaytoun. The Israeli army responded by intensively bombing the area with helicopters, warplanes, and even naval vessels.

An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that following the disappearance of the four Israeli soldiers, the occupation army fell into chaos, with Israeli forces frantically attempting either to locate the missing soldiers or to kill them before they could be captured.

Hebrew media also noted that many Hamas fighters took part in the operation and that the likelihood of the four missing soldiers having been captured remains high. The occupation army’s radio network acknowledged that Hamas maintains more than 15,000 fighters in Gaza, that the Al-Zaytoun Brigade has suffered little damage, and that the Israeli military faced a severe test in this area.

According to Israeli media reports on the operation’s details, Hamas fighters used light weapons and machine guns in direct clashes with Israeli soldiers. The outcome was one soldier killed, 11 severely wounded, and four missing. The ongoing search for the missing has so far yielded no results.

Analysts argue that the success of the Palestinian resistance in conducting such sophisticated operations—including last night’s ambush—demonstrates the high level of preparedness and combat capability of Al-Qassam fighters, compared to the weakness, lack of readiness, and low morale of Israel’s ground forces.

Colonel Nidal Abu Zayd, an Arab military and strategic affairs expert, stated that the Al-Zaytoun ambush differed in form and substance from previous operations. It took place in a geographical area that the Israeli occupation has been attempting to seize—Al-Zaytoun, a key entry point for occupying Gaza City.

He added that the army’s entrapment in this major ambush showed that Israeli forces are not ready for a full-scale ground assault on Gaza City, and that, beyond political-military friction, they suffer from structural, organizational, and manpower erosion.

The expert also stressed that the intensity of Israeli fire indicated an effort to kill their own soldiers to prevent their capture. He added that the Al-Zaytoun events were a practical translation of statements made the previous night by Abu Obeida, the Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesman, who emphasized that capturing Israeli soldiers is no longer just a media threat but a strategic option for the resistance to break the operational balance with the occupiers.

Following reports last night by Israeli sources of one of the fiercest battles with the resistance since October 7, 2023, in Gaza’s southern Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, the Al-Qassam Brigades escalated their psychological warfare by publishing an image.

The image, originating from the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, bore the caption: “A reminder for the forgetful… death or captivity.” It showed an Israeli soldier being dragged along the ground by resistance fighters into captivity.