Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted soldiers and officers in the Israeli army who participated in the battles of Khan Yunis as saying that the fighting in Gaza is complex and that fighters from the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), are changing their tactics during the ongoing war on the Strip for the 288th day.

Israeli army soldiers and officers explained to the newspaper that Hamas fighters were emerging alive from under the rubble after being bombed because they had taken shelter in basements protected by reinforced concrete.

Earlier this month, the commander of the combat department in the Israeli Nahal Brigade said that the brigade lost 50 fighters, and that “we must listen to the mothers and take care of the reserve soldiers and detainees.”

Late last month, the Jerusalem Post newspaper also quoted Nahal Brigade Commander Yair Zuckerman as saying that there are tunnels in almost all the homes in the city of Rafah, and that the progress of his forces is slow and the battles are exhausting.

The Israeli military commander explained that the resistance factions are planting many cameras in Rafah to manage the battle from above and below the ground, and that among the challenges facing his forces is booby-trapping houses and rooms in the city before the Israeli forces enter them, and detonating them remotely.

Although about 9 months have passed since the start of its war on Gaza, reports speak of the occupation army’s inability to achieve any of what it calls declared goals, especially recovering Israeli prisoners from the Gaza Strip and eliminating the capabilities of the Hamas movement.

On a daily basis, Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza announce the killing and wounding of Israeli soldiers and the destruction of military vehicles throughout Gaza, and from time to time fire missiles at Israel, and broadcast video clips documenting some of these operations.

The occupation army continues its ongoing war on Gaza, leaving about 125,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and worsening famine in the besieged Strip.