Hamas accused Israel of carrying out acts of “genocide and ethnic cleansing” against the people of northern Gaza to force them to leave.
The Hamas armed wing said fighters attacked forces there with anti-tank rockets and mortar fire and detonated already planted bombs against troops inside tanks and stationed in houses.
Elsewhere in the enclave, Israeli strikes killed at least five people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and four in two separate strikes in Gaza City, medics said.
Sinwar was one of the masterminds of the Oct 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israeli communities that killed around 1,200 people, with another 253 taken back to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent war has devastated Gaza, killing more than 42,500 Palestinians, with another 10,000 uncounted dead thought to lie under the rubble, Gaza health authorities say.
