Israeli media reported that a soldier from the Israeli Engineering Corps was killed in northern Gaza, at a time when the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that two Merkava tanks had been targeted with an “Al-Yassin 105” shell, one of them in the Shujaiya neighborhood, which has witnessed fierce battles for about 12 days, and the other in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said that its fighters targeted an Israeli Merkava 4 tank with an Al-Yassin 105 shell on Baghdad Street in the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

In Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, Al-Qassam also announced that it had targeted an Israeli Merkava 4 tank and a troop carrier with “Al-Yassin 105” shells in the middle of the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, and that it had targeted another Merkava 4 tank using a strobe device south of the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood as well.

Al-Qassam also broadcast images that it said showed it demolishing the positions of the Israeli occupation forces in the Netzarim axis, east of the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, using Israeli army artillery shells after installing them on “107” missiles.

For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced that it bombed with mortar shells the occupation soldiers stationed at the Rafah crossing gate and its surroundings. Al-Sariya indicated that its fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with "soldiers of the Zionist enemy" in the incursion areas west of the city of Rafah.

In total, the announced death toll of Israeli soldiers since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 has reached about 678, including 323 in ground battles.

The number of wounded soldiers reached 4,049, including 2,057 in ground battles, according to army data, which faces local accusations of concealing a large toll of its dead and wounded.

On the other hand, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that the government will discuss today, Sunday, extending the period of compulsory service in the army for an additional 3 years instead of 32 months.

The authority indicated that the military level demanded an extension of the period of compulsory service due to the army’s need for more manpower.

With absolute American support, the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip resulted in more than 125,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing persons, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children.