image1
File photo shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) meeting with forces of the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade.
Elite Israeli forces waging the occupying regime’s ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip have reportedly given up control of a neighborhood in the Gaza City after suffering heavy losses there.
The 13th Battalion of Israel’s Golani Brigade "transferred control" of the city’s Shujaiya neighborhood, to another force, the London-based al-Araby al-Jadeed news outlet reported on Friday, citing Israel’s Channel 13.
Israeli outlets recently published footage showing the troops enlisted with the infantry brigade "celebrating" after quitting the battlefield, the report added.
The flashpoint neighborhood has earned a reputation for being a "death trap" for the regime’s forces.
It houses the strategic Tell al-Muntar hill, which, overlooking the entire Gaza City, has lent special strategic significance to the area and is considered to be the "gate to Gaza."
The Israeli forces’ departure from Shujaiya came after fighters with the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, inflicted heavy losses on the brigade.
The resistance operation reportedly claimed the lives of at least 10 members of the Golani Brigade, and seriously wounded four others, including "mid-level" officers.
The developments came amid an unrelenting war that the Israeli regime has been waging against the Gaza Strip since October 7.
The regime started the war following an operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups that led to the captivity of hundreds.
At least 20,057 people, including some 8,000 children and 6,200 women, have been killed in the war so far.
Gaza’s resistance groups have vowed not to give up defending the territory in the face of the Israeli onslaught, saying they were ready for a "long war" against the occupying regime.