IDF: Troops fight in center of Khan Younis

The Israel Defense Forces said it pushed deeper into Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with the 551st Reserve Brigade and the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit raiding Hamas’s general security headquarters in the area.

The military also pushed ahead with expanding its ground offensive into Khan Younis, where it believes much of the Hamas leadership is hiding, The Times of Israel reports.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, the IDF said troops had reached the center of Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, head of the southern command, said troops were involved in the heaviest fighting seen since the start of the ground invasion over a month ago.

“We are in the heart of Jabaliya, in the heart of Shejaiya and from this evening, also in the heart of Khan Younis,” he said in a statement, referencing Hamas strongholds near Gaza City in the north of the Strip.

“This is the most intense day [of battles] since the start of the [ground] maneuver, in terms of terrorists killed, the number of engagements and the use of fire from the ground and the air,” he said.