The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that a naval force of its fighters was able to infiltrate the beaches of Zikim, south of Ashkelon, and clash with the occupation forces, while the Israeli army announced that it had killed a number of infiltrators.

The Al-Qassam Brigades said that a force of "frogmen" was able to "infiltrate by sea and land on the beaches of Zikim, south of occupied Ashkelon, and armed clashes are now taking place with the occupation army in that area."

Al Jazeera said that this sea penetration may be the largest by the resistance since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, which also witnessed the infiltration of resistance fighters to Zikim Beach, northwest of the Strip.

Sirens sounded twice in the settlements of Zikim and Karmiya as reports of the infiltration continued.

The channel indicated that previous infiltration operations were carried out by a few members of the resistance, but the number of infiltrators this time appears to be large, according to Israeli media reports.

For his part, an Israeli army spokesman announced that the infiltration operation at Zikim Beach had been thwarted, and said that his forces were still combing the area, but he did not reveal details regarding the size of the operation and the number of participants in it.

The spokesman said that Palestinian naval commandos infiltrated through a tunnel into the sea and then to Zikim Beach.

Israeli Channel 12 said that at least 10 militants were killed by Israeli naval fire, while Channel 14 said that clashes were still continuing in the area.

A video clip showed what appeared to be flash bombs fired by the occupation forces in the area to detect intruders.