Israel ‘taken by surprise’ in Gaza battlefield, suffered heavy losses: Islamic Jihad

The Islamic Jihad resistance movement says Palestinian fighters have “taken Israel by surprise” on the battlefield across the Gaza Strip by inflicting heavy losses on the occupying regime.

Abu Hamza, spokesman for the Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, said that the Palestinian resistance is in “very good condition” and maintains readiness and strength to confront the enemy on all fronts in Gaza.

He added that resistance fighters destroyed a large number of Israeli vehicles, which were advancing east of Gaza City as well as Khan Yunis and al-Qarara, and managed to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy ranks.

“Media reports about [the power of] Saraya al-Quds forces is only a small part of what is waiting for the enemy. Our fighters’ operations and ambushes against the enemy on all fronts of the conflict continue and are at their peak,” Hamza warned.

He also assured the Palestinian people that Saraya al-Quds and other resistance groups were still operating well on the battlefield.

Separately, Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab al-Berim said the enemy is “taken by surprise” on all fronts in the war, predicting that the resilience of Palestinian fighters would force Israel to end its aggression.

The occupying regime will be forced to stop the war if it wants to return its captives from Gaza, he noted.

Berim further said the Israelis “have no goal but to take revenge on civilians, something that shows the height of the Zionists’ humiliation and cowardice and will inflict a heavy defeat on their military.”

Palestinian people continue to fight and resist after two months of onslaught by the Zionist enemy on Gaza, forcing the occupiers to change their plans, he emphasized.

Israel waged the bloody war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 16,248 Palestinians, including 7,112 children and 4,885 women, and injured 43,616 others.

Some 7,600 people are also missing and assumed buried under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.

An estimated 1.9 million people – roughly three-quarters of the Gaza population – are displaced due to the genocidal Israeli assault.